Darin Wood of Edmonton, who was in the middle of his first season as an assistant coach for the St. Albert U17AAA Flyers, has died, his family announced.
Wood, 35, was well known in the regional hockey community. In the spring of 2006, at the age of 17, Wood was paralyzed after a car accident. At the time he was a hockey player with the South Side Athletic Club, although the accident ended his own hockey career.
Starting in 2014, Wood took up coaching minor hockey for various clubs throughout the Edmonton region, most recently with the St. Albert Raiders.
In a post on Facebook on Jan. 10 announcing that Wood was to be taken off life-support, his brother Corey said that the news will likely come as a shock for the many people whose lives were impacted by Darin.
“Just know this was unexpected,” Corey wrote.
“We will post more information in the upcoming days as the family needs time to process the next steps.”
Sad news for our #U17AAAstalbertFlyers Team today. RIP Coach Woody. Always remembered, never forgotten. Prayers to the Wood family, friends and his hockey family. 💙💛 @RaidersStAlbert @AEHL_HA pic.twitter.com/khrJcdGpVH
— StARaidersFlyers (@StARaidersFlyer) January 11, 2024
More to come.