At 5:00 PM two hockey teams were facing each other in Greenwich. St. Luke’s and Brunswick played each other during a big game but the event ended in tragedy. Sophomore Teddy Balkind from St. Luke’s high school, unfortunately, sustained a neck injury while being down on the ice with a Brunswick player skating into his neck. He was taken off the ice to be treated by the officials and sent to the Greenwich hospital for further treatment. He tragically passed away at the hospital during surgery.

Junior Gavin Kleinberger said, “I was really sad to see this happen because when people go on the ice they don’t think about this happening. It’s an unlikely situation but it resulted in death which has led to more enforcement of the neck guard.” 

This has been a sad event with the New York Rangers and the NHL publicly having recognized this tragedy and the community of Hockey players have left their sticks outside of their house. Many people across town were moved to leave sticks outside of their house to show support for the player, Teddy Balkind. The support and change for the tragedy bring hope for the future of a safer sport for hockey. The schools of St Luke’s high school and Bunskwick highschool both closed to allow the community to process the event. The flag was sent to half-mast at St. Luke’s high school. 

Kleinberger said, “It’s cool how the entire community responds with warmup shirts with Balkind shirts and people showing emotions.”