Rochester hockey players treated for CO poisoning following game in Wisconsin (update #2)
(THE MED CITY BEAT) - At least 81 people, including 25 Rochester Ice Hawks players and coaches, were hospitalized following a carbon monoxide leak at a junior hockey game Saturday night in Wisconsin.
Several players reported having headaches, dizziness and nausea after a game between the Dells Ducks and the Ice Hawks at the Poppy Waterman Ice Rink in Lake Delton. WISC-TV in Madison reports paramedics recorded high readings of carbon monoxide inside the building when they arrived.
Photo: Brandi Pannell Urban via Ice Hawk Nation's Facebook page
Ice Hawks coach Nick Fatis tells The Post-Bulletin that 23 of 28 Ice Hawks players who made the trip were hospitalized. Fatis, along with assistant coach Corey Dubois, also were hospitalized, bringing the team's total to 25. All have since been treated and released.
"Honestly, we are lucky nobody died," Fatis told the P-B. "These are athletes, doing high-level physical activity, breathing in heavily for several hours, in an environment that was poisoned by carbon monoxide. It was very ugly, but it could have been much worse."
One Ducks player who was treated in a hyperbaric chamber at a Milwaukee hospital has returned home.
The rink has canceled all activities for Sunday and Monday, including the Ice Hawks game that was scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.
The AP reports authorities are blaming an ice resurfacing machine for the leak. Wisconsin, unlike Minnesota, does not regulate air quality at ice rinks.
If carbon monoxide leak happened at Graham or Rec Center, alarm goes off and automated system kicks on exhaust fans. We are safe here
— Ben Pherson (@PB_Phersy) December 14, 2014
Dozens fall ill, including players, from CO leak at Wis. rink after MNJHL junior hockey game http://t.co/MQaOtx9mAn
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) December 14, 2014
(Cover photo: File / Seabamirum / Creative Commons)
