Eric Pidgeon’s return to the ice with his Prince Edward Island teammates was a brief one Tuesday afternoon at the North Hill Club.
The 20-year-old second was taken to hospital for the second time this week following the fifth-end break of his team’s game against the Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin and remains there under observation. Pidgeon experienced the same symptoms as he did Sunday when he collapsed on the ice.
He was released from hospital Monday morning, but didn’t play either of his team’s games that day. He elected to return to action Tuesday.
“He thought this morning that he was feeling pretty good when we left the hotel, he ate a good breakfast, and we came out and started sliding (in practice) and he was feeling pretty decent about it,” said his dad Peter Pidgeon, who also coaches the Spencer Pitre-skipped squad. “But in the third end, he had to sweep two shots back to back quite hard and I noticed he wasn’t quite looking a hundred per cent, and he didn’t finish the fifth end.”
An ambulance came to the rink and put Eric Pidgeon under observation, and he later walked out under his own strength to a waiting ambulance. Spare Dylan Webster of Calgary was summoned to the rink to finish out the game, and likely will remain in the P.E.I. lineup for the remainder of the nationals.
“The symptoms were starting to come back and we don’t want him to hurt himself too badly,” said Pitre, whose team bowed 10-3 to the Yukon, but bounced back later Tuesday with a 7-5 win over Colin Miller of the Northwest Territories. “We just played it safe and brought back Dylan. He’s curling extremely well for us, he’s an extremely strong curler, and fits well with our team, too. He just meshes really well, he’s a great shotmaker and a great guy.”
Eric Pidgeon, who plays lead for P.E.I., was taken to hospital for the second time this week following the fifth-end break of his team’s game against the Yukon at the Canadian junior curling championships Tuesday.
Photograph by: Colleen De Neve, Calgary Herald