The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) team announced on social media on Sunday morning that Jiri Suchy, a former hockey player for the Halifax Mooseheads, had passed away as a result of a collision involving a motor vehicle.
“Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones,” the Mooseheads said in response to the tragic news as Global News reported.
Over the course of his two-year tenure with the Halifax Mooseheads, Suchy, who was 36 years old, played a total of 118 games for the team during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons.
During that time, he racked up 10 goals and twenty-six assists. After spending some time in Canada, he went back to his home nation of the Czech Republic and resumed his playing career for a number of years.
He played in the first- and second-tier leagues of his country before moving on to play in Slovakia and Germany. Fans and past teammates alike posted messages on the internet in an outpouring of support for the player.
“Jiri was such a super guy, always talked to him about everything, not just hockey,” one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to the Mooseheads’ post.
“If I had a son, I would want him to be just like Jiri. RIP Jiri, my condolences to his family and friends.”
Bryce Swan, a former winger who played alongside Suchy during his time in Halifax, described the impact that his old friend left on the ice in a tribute to the impact that Suchy had on the game.
“Hands down the hardest hitter I have ever played with. This hurts. RIP Such,” Swan wrote in a post on social media.
This news comes just months after a tragic October jockey accident led to the death of U.K. team Nottingham Panthers' Adam Johnson, as Time reported.
The player from America died on Oct. 28 after he took a skate blade to the neck during a mid-game collision with opponent Matt Petgrave in Sheffield, England.
A man was arrested in connection with the incident on suspicion of manslaughter; he was subsequently released on parole. The incident has also reignited safety concerns regarding the sport.
Johnson, a native of Minnesota, participated in American league clubs and NCAA collegiate hockey at Minnesota-Duluth. The 29-year-old made 13 NHL appearances during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He then spent the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons in Sweden and Germany, respectively, with the Malmo Redhawks and the Augsburger Panther. He joined the Nottingham Panthers, a team in the Elite Ice Hockey League of the United Kingdom, earlier this year.
Johnson sustained a neck injury during the second period of a Challenge Cup match between the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, where Petgrave's skate blade collided with him.
