Dozens Fall Sick from CO Leak at Wis. Rink during Jr. Hockey Game

Dec. 14--Many dozens of people, some of them players, fell seriously ill after a suspected carbon monoxide leak during a junior hockey game near the Wisconsin Dells, authorities said Sunday.

Hospitals near the Poppy Waterman Ice Arena in Lake Delton received 81 people who were at the rink Saturday night for the Minnesota Junior Hockey League game between the Dells Ducks and the Rochester Ice Hawks, according to fire officials.

The patients' symptoms included dizziness, nausea, headaches, vomiting and fainting, the officials added.

One Ducks player remains hospitalized in Milwaukee, where he is receiving oxygen therapy in a hyperbaric chamber, according to a statement from the league.

Authorities have yet to determine how the leak of the potentially deadly gas occurred.

In a statement released late Sunday morning, ice arena officials said they are checking "all possible sources that would cause this type of exposure in our facility. ... We have contacted our manufacturer technician to conduct a full inspection on both of our ice resurfacers" on Monday.

Carbon monoxide emissions have long been a concern at hockey rinks, with suspicions often focusing on ice-resurfacing equipment. In 2009, 12 players on a Maple Grove peewee hockey team, grades 6 and 7, and five spectators fell ill from carbon monoxide poisoning at a hockey tournament at the Lee Community Center in Morris.

As recently as two weekends ago, carbon monoxide poisoning at a rink in Ottawa was blamed for 16 hockey players landing in the hospital.

Symptoms day before, last season

Ice Hawks head coach Nick Fatis said Sunday that the symptoms started popping up among his players Friday night during a game at the same rink vs. the Ducks.

"I feel like this was a very avoidable situation," Fatis said. "We feel very blessed" that everyone with the Ice Hawks survived what could have been a deadly situation, he added.

Fatis said one of his assistants woke up at 3 a.m. Saturday to take a shower "and got violently ill in the bathroom."

In the time leading up to Saturday's game, Fatis continued, "other players were complaining of headaches and not feeling themselves. I thought cold or flu, but didn't really pick up" on carbon monoxide poisoning.

Once Saturday's game began, players were fighting the symptoms and had trouble breathing, the coach added. Several failed finish the game.

After the game, the coach continued, "one of our players from last year pulled me aside and said, " 'You know, I got really sick here last year.' " The player added that his father raised to prospect of carbon monoxide as the culprit.

Every player who skated Saturday fell ill, Fatis said, along with himself, some of them "on the floor in the [Super 8] lobby vomiting," Fatis said. "I triaged them to get the guys out [to a hospital], and then I kind of lost it."

Rink closed Sunday, Monday

All Ice Hawks players and staff have been released from the hospitals. Once the team bus returns Sunday to Rochester, a couple of the players will be checked out by doctors at the Mayo Clinic, Fatis added.

According to the Fire Department:

By the time the leak was discovered, many of the players, team staff and spectators had already left the rink.

Fire and police personnel along with emergency responders fanned out to various location in Lake Delton and neighboring Wisconsin Dells to find those who had been in the rink. Those with symptoms either were taken by ambulance to hospitals or were allowed to seek treatment on their own.

The rink is closed Sunday, canceling a rematch between the Ducks and the Ice Hawks. The two teams split their games Friday and Saturday.

The rink will remain closed Monday as authorities work to determine what caused the leak.

Players in the Minnesota Junior Hockey League are primarily those who have concluded high school-age competition and are trying to move on to college teams. About a third on the Rochester roster are Minnesotans, with the rest from other states. The Ducks' roster has no Minnesotans and is made up of Wisconsin natives and players from other states and overseas.

Paul Walsh -- 612-673-4482

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