Colby Cave | |||
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![]() Cave with the Providence Bruins in 2015 | |||
Born |
North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada | December 26, 1994||
Died |
April 11, 2020 Toronto, Ontario, Canada | (aged 25)||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) | ||
Weight | 201 lb (91 kg; 14 st 5 lb) | ||
Position | Centre | ||
Shot | Left | ||
Played for |
Boston Bruins Edmonton Oilers | ||
NHL draft | Undrafted | ||
Playing career | 2015–2020 |
Colby Alexander Cave[1] (December 26, 1994 – April 11, 2020) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers.
Cave was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan and began playing minor ice hockey in the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League. The Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL) selected him in the first round of the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft, but traded his junior ice hockey rights to the Swift Current Broncos in 2011. As an undrafted free agent in 2015, Cave signed an entry-level contract with the Bruins, and spent five seasons in the Boston system before being claimed off waivers by the Oilers. Cave made 67 total NHL appearances between 2015 and 2020, scoring nine points.
On the evening of April 6, 2020, Cave began complaining of headaches. His condition deteriorated throughout the night, and he was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, where doctors performed emergency surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing brain bleed. After spending four days in a medically induced coma, Cave died on April 11, 2020, at the age of 25. News of his death was met with memorials from his hockey teammates and coaches, as well as the establishment of the Colby Cave Memorial Fund.