High school player Teddy Balkind loses his life in horrific hockey accident.

It is every parent's worst possible nightmare and unfortunately for one family in Connecticut that nightmare has become a tragic reality.

On Thursday a young hockey player playing for St. Luke’s School in New Canaan was involved in a horrific accident that took his life. We now know that the player was 10th grader Teddy Balkind, a young boy that was no more than a teenager and one whose life has been tragically taken far, far, too soon.

Balkind was playing in a Thursday night game against Brunswick School when he fell to the ice during the course of play, a fall that led to a collision with another player. In that collision Balkind's neck was cut by the skate blade of that other player, and while the details around just how exactly that happened are still hazy we know that the cut proved to be a fatal one.

Balkind was rushed to hospital where medical professionals did their best to save the young man's life, but sadly they were unsuccessful in their efforts. I can't imagine how horrific that must have been for those who no doubt did their best to save the young man, but the person I am most concerned about at this moment is Balkind's father. According to numerous reports Balkind's father was in attendance at the game, and I can't even begin to fathom the kind of grief that poor man must be going through at this time.

Unsurprisingly this has resulted in a great deal of mourning throughout the hockey community and, while initially that mourning was concentrated in Balkind's local community, the terrible nature of this story has caused it to quickly spread to everyone connected to the sport of hockey. On Friday the National Hockey League released a statement, mourning Balkind's tragic passing.

Several teams across the NHL have also released statements on the matter, including the New York Rangers:

It comes as no surprise that several players in the league have also commented on Balkind's passing, no doubt this is something they all fear could someday happen to them and is therefore something that hits very close to home.

Our thoughts are with the Balkind family at this time, I can't imagine what they must be going through.