Windsor Tragedy
It’s hard to believe that a 19-year old elite athlete could just die. But, that’s exactly what happened to Mickey Renaud yesterday. The captain of the Windsor Spitfires was at his family home when he collapsed and never opened his eyes again. How? Why? Big questions that so far, have no answers. How we should know later today. We’ll be asking why for a long time. When I got the call at home yesterday I was stunned. My mind immediately when back to the 1977-78 hockey season was I was part of the broadcast team of the Weyburn Red Wings in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. A 19-year old winger named Marcel Labelle fell in front of the opposition net and was dead before he hit the ice. It was a week before we learned that he suffered a brain aneurism. Every time a young person dies I think of Marcel. I was just one year older than he was at the time of his death. The answer to the why question will just have to wait. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Mickey Renaud, gone much too soon.