Carbon monoxide poisoning sends 16 hockey players to Ottawa hospital

OTTAWA – Carbon monoxide poisoning is being blamed for 16 hockey players ending up in an Ottawa hospital on the weekend.

Queensway-Carleton Hospital says the patients are all young people in their early 20s and late teens who came in reporting stomach problems early Sunday.

At least 13 of the patients have since been released from hospital.

The father of one patient says they had been playing in a three-on-three hockey tournament at the Complete Hockey Development Centre (on Iber Road) for several hours Saturday.

He says the players starting feeling ill and had asked an arena employee to open the air vents, which were closed.

Ottawa fire spokesman Marc Messier says that by the time crews arrived to the arena at around 2 a.m, there was no carbon monoxide detected but at least some of the patients had been poisoned by the gas.