Outpouring of support for Kamloops Blazers forward after ‘life-altering’ injury

Kamoops Blazers forward Kyrell Sopotyk had a life-altering injury while snowboarding over the weekend.

Sopotyk, 19, was paralyzed in the accident, and the Blazers said in a statement the team was "devastated" by the news.

"He is a tremendous young man and an exemplary representative of our hockey club. The Blazer family is behind Kyrell and the Sopotyks," the team said in the statement.

Sopotyk, from Aberdeen, Sask., was a notable talent as a young teen.

"He's a better kid than he is a hockey player. And that's saying a lot because he's a great hockey player," former coach Shaun Priel says. Priel was the coach of the Sask Valley Vipers out of Warman, Sask.

Priel says he sent a message to Sopotyk as soon as he heard the news.

"He's a fighter. Always has been. It's going to be hard, but he'll find a new way forward one way or another," he says.

A GoFundMe has been started to support Kyrell and his family with a $50,000 goal. As of Monday morning, Jan. 25, $98,000 had already been raised. 

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