Death of Brittanie Cecil

Did You Know?

• Cecil was an avid soccer player and competed in a state tournament with her team, the Orange Crush, at age eleven.
• Mayor Carol Lunsford declared the day Orange Crush Day after the team qualified for the state tournament.
• Cecil attended Twin Valley South Middle School as a cheerleader, student council member, and honor student.

Death

Cecil attended a Columbus Blue Jackets game against the Calgary Flames on March 16, 2002, with tickets given early for her 14th birthday. With 12:10 left in the second period, a shot by Espen Knutsen was deflected by Derek Morris over the glass, striking her left temple. Play continued as players were unaware. She walked to a first-aid station and was taken to Columbus Children's Hospital with a skull fracture and a forehead gash. At the hospital she had an initial seizure but appeared to recover the next day, communicating and walking without pain or dizziness. A CT scan missed a torn vertebral artery, causing clotting and brain swelling. On March 18 she developed a high fever, lost consciousness, and died at 5:15 p.m., nearly 48 hours after being struck. Her funeral was held at Preble Memory Gardens Chapel near West Alexandria; a procession of over 150 cars followed to Fairview Cemetery. Blue Jackets general manager Doug MacLean attended and spoke for the team.

Aftermath

At the next Blue Jackets home game, against the Detroit Red Wings, a moment of silence was observed for Cecil. Her initials BNC were worn on players' helmets for the rest of the season. Knutsen and Morris expressed remorse. Morris said pucks get deflected over the glass often but that does not make it better, and one always feels partly at fault. Knutsen, who chose to play the next game after being offered a chance to sit out, said he thought about it constantly and could not get it off his mind. In December 2010, Knutsen met with Cecil's family, bringing closure to both sides. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated in June 2002 that despite the rarity of such an event, the league wanted to do the right thing and reduce pucks entering the stands without interfering with the game or fan enjoyment. That month, safety measures became league policy: glass partitions were standardized to at least 5 feet in height, and ceiling-mounted netting reaching the top of the partition was added. America West Arena in Phoenix was the only NHL venue with such netting before Cecil's death. In a 2012 retrospective, sportswriter Greg Wyshynski noted fan resistance at the time, including his own, and cited Doug MacLean's recollection of angry letters from season ticket holders. Wyshynski concluded that the netting had become so assumed that the backlash seemed Neanderthalic.

Legacy

After months studying arena safety, the NHL mandated netting at least five feet above the boards behind and beside both goal ends. Commissioner Gary Bettman made the rule mandatory in all league rinks, and other hockey organizations worldwide followed suit. The Cecil family’s lawsuit against the NHL and the arena was settled out of court for $1.2 million in April 2004. The Brittanie Nichole Cecil Memorial Scholarship Fund now collects donations at every Columbus Blue Jackets home game.