A Durango hockey player who was injured during a game last week and then required air transport to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood remains in critical condition, a spokeswoman for the hospital said Thursday.
Bryan Brock, who plays in the Durango Adult Recreation Hockey League at Chapman Hill Ice Rink and Ski Area, was injured while playing on the night of April 2 for the “Hurtz Doughnut” team.
Attempts to reach Brock’s family were unsuccessful. The family set up a YouCaring.com page for donations for medical care.
According to Eric Hjermstad, captain of Hurtz Doughnut, no one on the ice saw how Brock was injured, but it appears at some point he was hit.
Hjermstad said Brock went to the bench after the collision and said he was in pain. His teammates took him off the ice and into the locker room to get dressed and be taken to be examined.
But in the locker room, Brock had a stroke. The team then called paramedics, and he was taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center before being flown to St. Anthony’s.
“We thought maybe he had a concussion,” Hjermstad said. “But then obviously it went downhill after he got dressed in the locker room.”
According to the YouCaring.com site, Brock suffered a dissection of his right carotid artery on his neck. The injury caused Brock to sustain blood clotting, resulting in a stroke.
Brock remains in the intensive care unit with swelling in the brain.
He is making slow but steady progress, but Brock has a long road to recovery. He is going to require extensive rehabilitation at an in-patient setting for mobility and activities necessary to daily living.
Hjermstad said he’s known Brock for about 10 years. The two play hockey, as well as softball together, and go camping and hunting.
“He’s just a really positive person,” he said.
According to The Durango Herald’s archives, Brock moved to Durango in 1998 and married Valarie Gonzales. The two have a son, Evan, and two daughters, Kaitlyn and Samantha.
Brock received a Commendation Medal with Valor from the Air Force for the role he played helping the wounded in the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, one of the largest terrorist attacks on deployed American military.
A 2016 article indicates Brock was most recently working for Red Cedar Gathering Co.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
