Paralyzed Clay hockey player returns to ice for special benefit (1.2.10)

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Article published January 02, 2010
 
By DAVID PATCH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
With his Clay High School hockey teammates lined up before him, Kyle Cannon took center ice Friday afternoon for a ceremony that no scholastic athlete - or any other athlete, for that matter - would ever truly want for himself or an opponent: the retirement of his uniform number because of catastrophic injury.
But if Kyle, who suffered a paralyzing neck injury during a high school hockey tournament in suburban Dayton on Nov. 30, 2008, harbors any bitterness over his fate, he had it well suppressed as he prepared for his appearance before a fund-raising scrimmage between the Clay Eagles and the Anthony Wayne Generals.
"I'm not really mad about it," he said at the Lucas County Arena.  "It was kind of a random thing. It could have happened to anybody."
The crowd who turned out for the special game gave Kyle a standing ovation when he was introduced for the pregame puck-drop ceremony, during which the Clay sophomore was presented with a framed hockey sweater bearing his No. 3 and a varsity letter from the team.
Jim Cannon, Kyle's father, said afterward that while there were a large number of no-shows, 4,020 tickets were sold for the exhibition game, breaking the Ohio scholastic hockey single-game record of 3,992.
All proceeds from the game, for which $5 admission was charged, were to be donated to a fund helping with Kyle's medical expenses, as were the proceeds of a silent auction of the specially made sweaters both teams' players wore for the game and of other hockey memorabilia donated to the fund-raising campaign.

The Clay sweaters all had a small No. 3 printed on the left shoulder in Kyle's honor, and both teams' uniforms had a "Kyle Cannon Benefit" inscription across the top of the back.
With the game's result and statistics - Anthony Wayne won - not counting, the two teams' players essentially donated a significant chunk of their New Year's Day to the campaign, too.
"It's great; whatever we can do to help," Andrew Price, an Anthony Wayne senior from Waterville, said beforehand.
Young Price said he and his teammates learned of Kyle's injury about a week after it happened; they had been playing in a tournament in Columbus while Clay participated in the Dayton event.
"He was just a normal high-school kid who played hockey," young Price said. "It could happen to anyone."
Mr. Cannon said the benefit game had been a motivating force for his son, who through physical therapy has regained limited movement in his right arm.
"It's like starting over for him," Mr. Cannon said. "Basically, he has to retrain his brain, and his body, to everything."
Kyle said before the game that it "would mean a lot" to him if the attendance record were broken, but even if it weren't, he appreciated all the moral support from those who did come out.
Mr. Cannon said afterward that it would be some time before he knew how much money had been raised, because there were some unexpected expenses that had to be paid.
But the money will be critical to Kyle's continuing therapy because Mr. Cannon has been laid off from work as a union carpenter since September, and his medical insurance expires next month.
Mr. Cannon said that even if he were called back to work tomorrow, his benefits would not restart for several months.
Among those participating in the pregame ceremony was Toledo Walleye Coach Nick Vitucci, who the Clay and Anthony Wayne team managers said gave enthusiastic support for the benefit hockey game the instant they proposed it to the Walleye organization.
"The hockey community is a small one, so you do whatever you can to be supportive and help" when something like Kyle's injury happens, Mr. Vitucci said after meeting Kyle for the first time at the arena yesterday. "It's amazing how competitive it is out on the ice but how passionate people are off the ice for each other."
"It could easily be my son, and that's why we're so passionate about it," said Bruce Johnson, a parent and team manager who with John Utter, his friend and team-manager counterpart at Clay, organized the game.
"We got so much support from the community - the northwest Ohio hockey family has been unbelievable," Mr. Johnson said.
Contact David Patch at:
dpatch@theblade.com
or 419-724-6094.