TORONTO - Brett MacLean’s professional hockey dreams vanished in a heart beat.
In the summer of 2012, at 23 years of age, the NHL forward with the Phoenix Coyotes suffered a cardiac arrest on the ice in his hometown of Port Elgin while preparing for the following season.
“I was 40 minutes into a training session and made a pass and collapsed. I don’t remember anything else,” MacLean, who had no history of heart disease, recalled last week.
His heart condition forced him to hang up his skates and embrace a new role as a campaigner with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which hosts the Becel Ride for Heart — this year’s edition goes May 31.