Hockey enthusiasts react after Alan Thicke dies of a heart attack playing the game

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Alan Thicke had a great passion for hockey. It seems that when he wasn’t acting he was at the rink and it was at a local arena in Burbank California where Thicke collapsed after suffering a heart attack. It’s a scare many recreational hockey players here at home have experienced and hope never happens to them.

The 69-year old suffered a heart attack while playing the game he loved with his teenage son. Teammates say Thicke still managed to joke around as he was stretchered off. But it was serious, Thicke later died in hospital. So how does an active person go from joking around to dying hours later? Dr.Craig Ainsworth, a cardiologist from Hamilton General hospital says that phenomenon is rare.

“Most people that are having heart attacks have symptoms that are ongoing and persistent until we open the artery. But you can have waxing and wayning symptoms where people have periods of feeling unwell and then well.”

While Dr. Craig Ainsworth says the risk of suffering a fatal heart attack at the rink is very low, he suggests that anyone middle-aged or older should work on their endurance outside the arena to better prepare their body, especially their heart, for their weekly hockey game.