Former Player Sues Hockey Canada and Several Others after Career-Ending Injury

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TJ Tucker
June 29, 2023 (8:26)

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A young former hockey player is now suing seven different defendants over the injury that ended his career. Isaac Dixon, who played for the Grand Falls Rapids of the Maritime Hockey League, has named Hockey Canada in his lawsuit, as well as the MHL, his own team, the opposing team the night of the injury, the Edmundston Blizzard, and the player who hit him, Jeremy Duguay.

In December of 2020, Dixon, who was 18 at the time, was hit into the boards by Duguay. In the lawsuit, Dixon claims he was screaming in pain, told medical staff he could not feel his legs, and that he thought his back was broken. He alleges that training staff with the Blizzard ignored him and told him to get up.

Dixon also says he asked someone to call an ambulance, but no one did. He said a member of the Blizzard training staff looked at his back when he was taken to the dressing room, and said "nothing looked to be wrong." He was again told to try to get up.

After an ambulance was finally called, Dixon was taken to hospital in Edmundston and it was determined he had suffered "a burst fracture of a vertebra, resulting in a spinal cord injury." He was transported to Moncton, New Brunswick for emergency surgery. The result, according to the court documents, is that Dixon has paraplegia. Through intensive therapy, he was able to walk again. However, his hockey career is over.

There is no specific amount of money that Dixon is seeking listed in the lawsuit. He does claim that Hockey Canada's insurance company denied him benefits and rehabilitation money. AIG is also named in the suit.

All parties have stated their intentions to file a defence in the suit. None of the allegations have been proven in court, nor have they been tested by a judge. Dixon's lawyer told CBC News he is not yet ready to talk to the media.

Source: CBC News