Stephen Peat Lifeless at 44 After ‘Tragic Accident’

Former Washington Capitals ahead Stephen Peat died on Thursday, Sept. 12. He was 44.

The NHL Alumni Affiliation revealed the information in a Sept. 12 put up on X (previously often known as Twitter), saying that the retired NHL enforcer died after he succumbed to his accidents following a “tragic accident simply over two weeks in the past.” 

No additional particulars in regards to the incident had been supplied. Nevertheless, the NHLAA confirmed, “Stephen shall be serving to to save lots of quite a few lives by organ donation.”

“We ship our deepest condolences to Stephen’s household, buddies, and former teammates throughout this tough time,” the NHLAA stated.

The Capitals additionally expressed their “heartfelt condolences” to Peat’s household and buddies. “Our ideas are along with his family members throughout this tough time,” learn the workforce’s X put up.

Born March 10, 1980, in Princeton, British Columbia, Peat started his profession at 15 years outdated and performed for 5 years in Canada’s Western Hockey League. He was drafted third total within the 1995 WHL bantam draft, per Hockey Draft Central. He later performed for the Crimson Deer Rebels, Tri-Metropolis People, and Calgary Hitmen, per Sports activities Internet. Throughout his WHL tenure, he scored 11 targets and made 36 assists in 203 video games.

The NHL veteran joined the league in 1998 after the Anaheim Geese drafted him with the thirty second total choose. He then spent a 12 months with the Portland Pirates within the American Hockey League (AHL). Peat was traded to Washington, the place he performed for the Capitals from 2001 to 2005 and made eight targets and two assists in 130 video games.

Peat ended his skilled profession after one recreation with the Albany River Rats, a former AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, in 2006.

Whereas Peat earned a fame on the ice, he claimed the game affected his well-being. In a 2016 interview with the New York Occasions, he spoke about probably affected by persistent traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative mind illness attributable to repeated blows to the pinnacle that can’t be precisely recognized till demise, per the Mayo Clinic.

On the time, Peat and his father, Walter, had been involved the NHL participant might undergo an early demise like different NHL enforcers.

“Hockey’s been the best factor in my life, but it surely’s additionally been the worst factor in my life,” Peat advised the Occasions. “It was nice whereas I used to be taking part in, however what has it executed recently? My friends of enforcers have change into statistics and the N.H.L. is in denial. They’re denying that the job I did even existed, despite the fact that I sacrificed my high quality of life, my well-being and my future significantly by being there for my teammates within the current.”

In the identical Occasions article, Peat and Walter mentioned when Peat pleaded responsible to arson by negligence in September 2015. The cost was in reference to a fireplace that occurred at his father’s home in March 2015.

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The following 12 months, in November 2017, Walter sought out a no-contact order put in place towards his son. Within the New York Occasions‘ 2017 follow-up to the 2016 piece, Walter described his son as a violent man who was experiencing extreme complications, which Walter theorized was because of Stephen’s NHL tenure.

Peat refuted the allegations, telling the Occasions, “I’m upset in my father since I as soon as held him so excessive on a pedestal.”