WINDSOR, Ont. – Former NHL fighter Bob Probert was boating with his children, father-in-law and mother-in-law on Lake St. Clair, near Windsor, Monday when he developed “severe chest pain” around 2 p.m. before collapsing to his death, his father-in-law Dan Parkinson said at a news conference Monday night.
Parkinson said he performed CPR on the 45-year-old Probert, but was unsuccessful.
The death was confirmed in Windsor late Monday afternoon by Ontario Provincial Police spokeswoman Shawna Coulter.
“This is a tragedy for the family and totally unexpected,” Parkinson said.
A witness on the scene, who asked not to be identified, said Probert looked like he was attending to something on the boat, a Bombardier Speedster 200.
“He was fixing the trim or something, stood up and then fell down,” the witness said.
Probert, who was born in Windsor, played 16 seasons in the NHL. He played for the Red Wings for nine seasons and the Chicago Blackhawks for seven others.
He was the last NHL player to score a goal in Toronto’s venerable Maple Leaf Gardens, on Feb. 13, 1999.
The bruising left-winger scored 163 career NHL goals and set up 221 others for a regular-season total of 384 points, but was best noted for his pugilistic skills. Probert amassed 3,300 penalty minutes in 935 career games, ranking sixth on the all-time penalty minutes leaders’ list.
He was selected 46th overall in the 1983 NHL entry draft from the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and played his first game with the Red Wings in the 1985-86 season. He retired following the 2001-2002 season.
Probert never won a Stanley Cup but often led his team in the accumulation of penalty minutes. He was an all-star in 1988.
Probert was suspended indefinitely after he was arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine across the Canada-U.S. border in March, 1989. He was welcomed back into the league but barred from travelling with Red Wings for road games in Canada during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons as he appealed a ruling that would have seen him deported from the United States if he left and re-entered the country. He was granted permission to play in Canada on Dec. 7, 1992.
The Probert family held a news conference at Windsor Regional Hospital to issue a statement. They did not take any questions from the media.
Windsor Star
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.