NLL Insider

Hill Academy student, Evan Furstaglio, passed away Monday evening after experiencing flu-like symptoms.

Reports are pouring out this morning of the passing of Hill Academy student, Evan Frustaglio, the Mississauga North Stars (Bantam AA) player succumbing to what is being describe by national media as H1N1-like (swine flu)  symptoms, although until an autopsy is completed, it’s unknown whether there is a direct link to H1N1 and his passing at this point.

The 13-year-old Frustaglio, who passed away on Monday evening at St. Joseph’s hospital in Toronto, had been participating in a London hockey tournament this past weekend, later complaining of feeling ill with a sore neck, back and throat.

After visiting a walk-in clinic on Sunday with a fever that appeared to be subsiding, Frustaglio continued to show flu-like symptoms and was later brought to a hospital.

Peter Merrill, father of NLL players Pat & Brodie Merrill and founder & CEO of The Hill Academy, appeared on Toronto based news source City TV earlier this morning, saying, “As you can imagine it’s a pretty emotional time for us all, we’re a pretty tight-knit unit here, and Evan was just a bright-eyed boy that loved life and was always eager to do things and to be active and to contribute.

“He was a great athlete and more so than that he was a great boy with great support from his parents. We’re all in shock right now.”

Two other players from Frustaglio’s team have also since been quarantined following this past weekend’s tournament after showing flu-like symptoms themselves, the team also cancelling their next pair of games for precautionary reasons.

“We have not been notified by anyone from the medical community that (Frustaglio) died from the H1N1 flu or anything specifically,” said Peter Johnson, president of the Mississagua North Stars, in a report published in The Toronto Star. “We took precautions anyway. You can’t take chances.”

Frustaglio’s passing came on the first day of Canada’s national vaccination strategy for the widely publicized illness. Health regions throughout the country began vaccinating high-risk groups this week, which includes health workers, younger children, pregnant women, and those in remote communities, including First Nations reserves.

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