Health scare
Bulldogs coach Dave Matsos recovering after collapsing in Barrie
The scene was scary and chaotic as it unfolded.
One moment, the players were on their feet, leaning over the boards and watching intently as their Hamilton Bulldogs teammates tried to put the finishing touches on club’s first win of the young season.
The next, sticks and gloves were flying through the air and those same players were catapulting themselves onto the ice.
It looked, at first, like a bench-clearing brawl. Until the throng dispersed and it became clear there were no Barrie Colts involved.
By then, the Hamilton players were screaming for help and pointing frantically — both at the bench, behind which their coach Dave Matsos had suddenly collapsed, and at the paramedics shielded by the glass in the opposite corner of the rink.
Forward Matt Strome, along with a couple of his teammates, sped toward them, grabbed their stretcher and tugged it through the door and across the ice.
He didn’t see Matsos buckle. None of them did. They only, as Strome put it, “saw him down.”
There were 19.8 seconds left on the clock when the 44-year-old from Burlington dropped into the small, cramped strip of floor between the bench and the boards behind it. He appeared to be unconscious for several minutes as a cluster of medical staff, including the Bulldogs trainers, assessed him and provided first aid.
The game was called as that was happening. Players were sent to their dressing rooms and arena workers were ordered to clear what remained of crowd — there were 2,183 on hand for the game on Saturday — from the Molson Centre stands.
Several more minutes passed before Matsos, conscious but wobbly, was slowly helped to his feet and onto a second stretcher that had materialized in the interim. He gestured for his phone.
The Ontario Hockey League soon tweeted that the former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound was “alert and responsive when
taken to hospital for precautionary measures,” while Bulldogs owner Michael Andlauer said Matsos had suffered a seizure. The Spectator attempted, but wasn’t able to confirm this.
General manager Steve Staios — a longtime friend of the Hamilton coach — had no comment as his players, quiet and stunned, loaded the team bus in the immediate aftermath.
He issued a statement on the team’s website around noon on Sunday.
Staios said the team would like fans to know that Matsos “is resting comfortably at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie where he will be undergoing tests today.” He also said he is “doing well and in good spirits.”
“We want to thank Barrie EMS, the Barrie Colts and their medical staff, the OHL and the hospital’s doctors and nurses,” he added. “We also want to acknowledge the outstanding support of our head athletic trainer,
J.P. Laciak who was with Dave on the bench when he became ill.
“We thank everyone who has reached out in support of Dave and his family with thoughts and well wishes. We will issue another update when more information is available.”
After the incident, which happened at roughly 9:45 p.m., the Bulldogs — minus Staios and Andlauer, who were at the hospital with Matsos — travelled back to Hamilton on the team bus and the players returned to their billet homes. The club said it would make support, such as counsellors, available to them if required and Staios said discussions about an interim coaching plan were taking place.
Numerous people immediately took to social media to offer kind words and wishes for a speedy recovery, including fans, friends and former teammates as far away as the United Kingdom, where the retired winger played professionally and started his coaching career.
The Colts, meanwhile, posted a touching tweet.
“Waking up this morning after what happened last night really puts things into perspective,” the team wrote. “Hockey is just a game, but life is a gift! Huge stick clap to everyone involved in last nights efforts to help @BulldogsOHL Head Coach Dave Matsos.”
Just moments before his coach collapsed, Isaac Nurse fired the puck into an empty Barrie net to put Hamilton ahead of the Colts 4-2, which stood as the final score.
It was the first win of the season for the team (it opened the campaign with a 7-5 loss in North Bay on Friday) and the first win for Matsos as its head coach.
Matsos spent three seasons with the Windsor Spitfires and five with the Sudbury Wolves before joining the Bulldogs as an associate coach in 2017. He was promoted to the top job in early August after former head coach John Gruden left for an opportunity with the New York Islanders.