Beer league hockey goalie, 64, dies after being hit in chest with puck: report

A hockey goalie playing a Florida beer league game died from cardiac arrest after being hit in the chest with a puck on the ice in Florida, according to a report.

The unidentified 64-year-old Kraken Beers goalie was in between the posts Tuesday night at Community First Igloo rink in Jacksonville when the fateful shot was fired by a member of the opposing Fireballs club, the Miami Herald reported.

Immediately after absorbing the blow to the chest from the disk of vulcanized rubber, the goalie “complained of feeling unwell and exited the game,” the outlet added, citing a police report.

The goalkeeper then collapsed, still in his hockey pads, near the stands, and bystanders rushed to perform CPR, according to the Herald.

Fire rescue responders took him to the hospital, where he died of cardiac arrest.

“This was traumatic and unexpected,” Alex Reed, director of communications for Community First Igloo, told First Coast News. 

“We’re a very tight-knit hockey community. I may not have known him personally, but we’re all in this great game together,” Reed added.

Relatives of the victim, who were at the beer league game, told police he did not have any preexisting health conditions, the Herald reported, citing police.

Jerry Stevens, supervisor of district sports ,edicine for Duval County, said the puck to the chest could have been a matter of unlucky timing that may have caused a condition known as commotio cordis.

“What happens is, that object hits the chest at the perfect time, disrupts the normal rhythm of the heart, so the heart stops,” he told First Coast News.