Teen dies playing rugby

MONTAGUE, P.E.I. — A high school senior has died after sustaining brain injuries during a rugby tournament.

Montague Regional High School has confirmed the death of Brodie McCarthy from a brain injury sustained during a rugby game in Summerside.

“Brodie was one of the nicest kids you could ever meet,” Seana Evans-Renaud, the school’s principal, said.

She said McCarthy was injured during a routine play at the David Voye Memorial Rugby Tournament which resulted in bleeding from two different parts of his brain.

He was taken to a Summerside hospital and then transported to Moncton, where doctors conducted surgery on his brain Friday night.

On Saturday, doctors conducted a CAT scan which revealed no brain activity, Evans-Renaud said.

She said McCarthy’s parents donated his organs because, a month earlier, he expressed to them if anything were to happen to him, that’s what he would have wanted.

“One of the teachers said, ‘You could never get mad at him.’ He was just always smiling, always being an allaround good guy, good friend and a good brother.” The 18-year-old would have graduated in June. McCarthy was an avid athlete, Evans-Renaud said, and excelled in multiple sports. He helped lead the Kings County Kings Midget AAA hockey team to several victories during the 2017-2018 season.