H1N1 eyed as hockey player, 13, dies
October 27, 2009
Lois Kalchman
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
The H1N1 virus reportedly claimed the life of a minor hockey player on Monday.
Evan Frustaglio, a player with the Greater Toronto Hockey League's Mississauga North Stars minor bantam AA team, fell ill on Sunday.
The 13-year-old was taken to St. Joseph's hospital where died from complications from the virus, the Toronto boy's family told CityNews.
There was no confirmation from health officials of a link between the H1N1 flu virus and Frustaglio's death. It was also unclear whether the Grade 8 student had any underlying medical conditions.
"This was reported to the GTHL last evening," said GTHL president John Gardner. "We are cancelling the team's next two games which we would do in any situation when a player passes away."
Gardner said the league already has steps in place to help team combat the spreading of the virus.
"We don't want people to over-react," Gardner said. "We will be acting responsibly and re-emphasizing all the safety measures. We have notified all of our teams in September of the protocol provided by Hockey Canada' chief medical officer Dr. Mark Aubry."
He had played in a tournament in London, Ont. over the weekend before falling ill.
Peter Johnson, the president of Mississauga North Stars says he has yet to hear the official cause of death, but everyone associated with the team was upset.
"We have not been notified by anyone from the medical community that (Frustaglio) died from the H1N1 flu or anything specifically," Johnson said. "We took precautions anyway. You can't take chances."
Johnson said he had emailed a reminder with the recommended steps put out by Hockey Canada to all the other coaches and administrators in the league.
"Hockey Canada has for many years had specific steps in place to reduce the spread of any infection in the hockey environment," says the bulletin from Dr. Aubry available on the Ontario Hockey Federation website (www.ohf.on.ca).
By late Monday night a tribute page had already been set up on Facebook.
There were already close to 300 members with many of Frustaglio's friends, teammates and hockey competitors leaving messages.
"R.I.P. Evan. Im so sorry that this happened, you will be missed so much that it cant be expressed in words," wrote Masha Petrasinovic. "You were a great kid, love always. (hearts)"
Wrote Tyler Longo, "R.I.P evan we will all miss u.The gthl just lost a great hockey player and we all just lost a good friend from 96 NATS R.I.P"
Toronto Star