OAK BLUFF, MB — As someone who lives for hockey, Fraser Mirrlees never imagined the sport would kill him.
“It was a scary moment even if I don’t really remember much,” said the 20-year-old. “I’m lucky to be here I guess.”
Mirrlees was playing a high school hockey game with the Sanford Sabres. It was 2011 – his first year in the league. He was trying to split the defencemen when both of them collapsed on him. One of the opposing players landed on his leg.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened but it went the wrong way,” said Mirrlees “I just got off the ice and obviously couldn’t play. I couldn’t move my leg or anything like that.”
The fall fractured the forward’s femur and tore his MCL. Mirrlees had to go under the knife to fix the damage. A routine surgery or so he thought.
“I ended up losing a lot of blood,” said Mirrlees. “My blood pressure sky rocketed and my heart rate went down to almost zero.”
Within minutes, he was clinically dead.
“I woke up 12 hours later,” said Mirrlees “I don’t know what happened and thought the surgery went well.”
It’s not known what caused the Oak Bluff product to flatline. Doctors told him he may never play hockey again but in nine months, he was back on the ice.
“I somehow became a much better player,” said Mirrlees. “I even started winning things.”
In his final high school season, Mirrlees was named the MVP of the WHSHL. The following winter, the MMJHL chose him as its top rookie. He still plays in the league and currently leads the Pembina Valley Twisters in scoring.
“When you’re out there playing hockey, you don’t think of anything else,” said Mirrlees. “The incident is behind me I guess. I don’t think much of it. I go along day-to-day being a regular person.”
Happy to be living in the moment.
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