Questions remain in death of teen hockey player from Montco

Still stunned, Nick Bond's grieving teammates gathered in the lounge of their Philadelphia skating club, where they had shared countless potlucks, and pondered two overwhelming questions:

Could they have done anything to prevent his death? And could this happen to them?

Bond, an 18-year-old senior at Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County, died Monday, a day after he unexpectedly collapsed at the Wissahickon Skating Club after leaving the ice during a game. In the days since, his friends and family have struggled to make sense of what happened.

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office ruled Bond's death accidental and said the teen died from complications from blunt-impact head trauma.

But no one saw Bond hit his head while he was on the ice last weekend, and without all the medical information, it was too soon to speculate about what happened, said Matthew Grady, a sports medicine pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who spoke with Bond's teammates earlier in the week.

"Sometimes we recognize there are things outside our control, and there's nothing we could do about it," Grady said Wednesday. "As far as we know right now, this was one of those times."

Grady, who came to the club with counselors from the hospital to talk to about 100 players, former players, and their parents, told them no one was to blame. He also advised the playes to tell adults if they ever sustain a head injury.

Bond "certainly was playing a contact and collision sport, but it's still unclear what trauma occurred," Grady said. "And we don't know whether he had something underlying that put him more at risk."

After Grady and the counselors spoke Tuesday, Bond's teammates, siblings of players, and players who came back home from college played a hockey game, with a large photo of a smiling Bond wearing his Wissahickon Warriors jersey looking on.

Flyers captain Claude Giroux read on Wednesday about what happened to Bond and planned to send a "care package" to his parents and three older brothers, Jill Lipson, his personal assistant, said.

"The family is in his thoughts and prayers, and Claude just wants to let them know he's thinking about them," she said.

Coincidentally, Bond's coaches often described his hockey style as being like Giroux's. Bond skated at Wissahickon "since he was old enough to put on skates," club president Kevin Hamel said.

Charles Wroten, a 17-year-old junior at La Salle College High School, said he met Bond in middle school and played lacrosse with him before he transferred.

"One of the best individuals I have always looked up to as a friend and athlete," Wroten said of Bond, who was an organ donor.

Chase Luxton, 22, graduated from Springfield in 2013, and played football and baseball with Bond's older brother. Bond's father was his baseball coach. Luxton said the Bond family supported his family when his brother died.

Teammates who gathered at the skating club made a collage of photos on a poster. In the center, Hamel said, was a social media post Bond had written: "Let it be a lesson. Don't take anything for granted, because it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye."

Funeral arrangements were pending Wednesday night.