Don Sanderson

Not sure if anyone has heard this story , it has been talked about a lot on the NHL Network, and finally today was reported in the NY Daily News.

WHITBY, Ontario - Those who loved Don Sanderson spoke with the distant, glassy eyes of surprised mourners as they downed beers on a snowy, subzero night and remembered their son, friend, coach and teammate. Sanderson died on Jan. 2, 20 days after banging his head on the ice during a hockey fight. The Whitby Dunlops, his senior-league club team, hosted a tribute to the 21-year-old before a game on Saturday. It began in the late afternoon with drinks and climaxed on the ice, when at the end of a 35-minute ceremony Sanderson's mother Dahna fell, sobbing, into her ex-husband's shoulder.

"He was a very passionate young man," Michael Sanderson says about his son earlier in the evening. Michael Sanderson is tall, with an imposing voice, though losing his only child has left him wobbly and dazed. "It was also his passion that caused him the most trouble."

Don Sanderson's fire for hockey and life led him to work harder than any of his teammates. In training camp, he ran up and down the steps of the rink before the others had begun stretching; he earned high grades at York University while coaching girls' youth hockey with his father. His plan, which he pursued doggedly, was to become a high-school teacher and eventually a professional hockey coach.

His fire also made him an aggressive defenseman who earned four ejections for fighting in 11 games this season, his first with Whitby. His last fight began as a mild scuffle next to the Dunlops' goal with the Brantford Blast's Corey Fulton. A normal hockey fight, replete with a couple of inconsequential punches thrown by both players, is how Sanderson's teammates described the altercation, adding that they thought Fulton had done nothing dirty. Towards the end of the scuffle, Sanderson's helmet slipped off and he stumbled from Fulton's grip, his head crashing against the ice. He lost conciousness soon after and lapsed into a coma for nearly three weeks before dying.

Attempts to reach Fulton were unsuccessful, but Whitby players confirmed that Fulton did not remove Sanderson's helmet.

Sanderson had told his father the day before that the helmet was worn out and needed to be replaced. "I told him Christmas was coming, wait until then," says Michael, with a laugh raw with regret.

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Though the pall of the first hockey-fight death that anyone can remember hung heavily in the bar, and later on the ice that night, the fallout has not been contained to Whitby. The tragedy has reverberated across Canada, instigating a prolonged debate about the role of fighting in the national sport. Print media, television and the Internet are abuzz with the issue. A poll conducted last week by Sun Media, which owns 43 major newspapers in Canada, revealed that 59% of respondents felt that fighting should be banned in minor and amateur hockey. One top junior league has already reacted with a rule change, and National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman felt it necessary to weigh in.