18 year old German player dies after terrible on ice accident

The Frankfurt Lions of the German U20 league are mourning the loss of one of their very own after a tragic on-ice accident took the life of defenseman Niclas Kaus.

From the German website hockeyweb.de translated from German:

Last Saturday, December 18th, the league game of the U20 team of the Löwen Frankfurt in the DNL3 against the Rote Teufel Bad Nauheim in the ice rink in Frankfurt had a serious accident. At the beginning of the second period it was 4-0 for the Löwen Juniors. In the 25th minute the tragic situation arose in which the 18-year-old defender Niclas Kaus fell into the gang after a tough duel with an opponent from Bad Nauheim. However, the man from Frankfurt fell so unhappily that he suffered severe head injuries, had to be taken to a clinic and operated on immediately.

In the days that followed, the attending physicians exhausted all medically available options to stabilize Niclas Kaus' condition and save his life - unfortunately in vain in the end.

"After long and intensive efforts by the doctors and carers in the last few days, we are in a state of shock and deep sadness," said Patrick Steingraf, Director of Sport at the Lions Youngsters. “For the family, after days of hope and fear, this is the worst thing you can imagine. The whole family is closely connected to the Löwen Frankfurt, his brother also plays in the U20 and had to witness the tragic accident. What happened makes all of us in the Leo family infinitely sad and stunned. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased and we want to help them - as best we can. And we pause, the sport is suspended until further notice, as it should be in this situation. "

The 18 year old Kaus started playing with his hometown Lions at just six years old is described as the "ultimate team player" by all of his teammates throughout the years. He planed to study at the University of Hamburg in 2022 with the ultimate goal to work in aviation, as his lifelong hobby was designing and building model airplanes.

RIP, young man.