DON HORKEY
Special to The Michigan Catholic

NOVI — For the third time in two years, tragedy has again hit Detroit Catholic Central’s athletic program.
After a nasty spill chasing a puck while playing for an all-star development hockey program, CC hockey star Matt Sorisho suffered a severe injury to his lower back that could leave the 17-year-old without movement in his legs.

The latest incident has the school community praying once again for one of its own.

Sorisho, who was playing for a development team against a squad from Chicago on Oct. 4 at Farmington Hills Ice Arena, raced down the rink about to shoot the puck when he was hit by an opposing defender.

“It was clearly a clean check,” said CC Athletic Director Aaron Babicz. “Matt spun out of control and crashed back-first into the boards.”

After on-ice attention by a doctor and medical trainer, Sorisho was transported to Botsford Hospital, where he underwent surgery for the severe injury to his lower back.

“He has movement from the waist up,” Babicz said, “but it doesn’t look good otherwise.” Sorisho, a senior forward who was the team’s third-leading scorer last season with 11 goals and 26 assists, is expected to be transferred to University of Michigan Hospital for rehabilitation.

Sorisho’s accident is the latest in a string of tragedies for the Catholic Central community.

In 2012, baseball and football player Salvatore Cipriano and his mother were savagely beaten and their father and husband killed by Sal’s older brother, Tucker, and an accomplice in a deadly rampage in the family’s home. Another brother, Tanner, Sal’s twin who graduated from CC this spring, and his younger sister managed to escape during the attack and call police.

Then, last December, the community was sent reeling again by the unexpected death of 15-year-old football star David Widzinski, who died in his sleep. Just three weeks earlier, Widzinski, a sophomore middle linebacker, had made a game-high 15 tackles in the Shamrocks’ Division 1 state championship loss to Detroit Cass Tech.

“As any young man would do,” Babicz said, “kids are asking ‘Why us?’ I tell them our faith is being tested by these back-to-back-to-back tragedies. But we can handle it. The Catholic Central community is a family, close-knit. It’s a chance for us to be champions in life, champions in faith.”

The day before the accident, Babicz said he was joking around with Sorisho and other hockey players in their weight room.

When he visited Sorisho in the hospital, “I told him to stay positive (during his recovery). In God’s mysterious ways, this was an opportunity for him to be a courageous example to our kids.”

Babicz said he understands the hockey team will be planning a fundraising event for the Sorisho family.

“Kids are creative in ways to remember their teammates. The players on the football team are wearing a shirt with ‘All in for 33’ printed on it under their jerseys to remember David, and the baseball players all had ‘Cipriano 14’ on the backs of their shirts.”

He adds: “But, right now, we are going through a rough stretch.”