UNCW conducts investigation at Polar Ice House following club hockey medical evaluations

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) – UNCW may have had a 5-3 victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday night, but multiple team players were treated for breathing issues and chest pain.

However they weren’t the only ones.

Hours before their game the Junior Seahawks took the ice. A parent who wants to remain anonymous told WWAY their 14-year-old has repeatedly gone to the hospital for headaches and a teammate had severe headaches Saturday night.

In addition, WWAY was told an intern for the hockey club went to urgent care on Tuesday for similar health complications. Eric Wright, a referee of the game said he experienced symptoms similar to asthma.

“I’ve never had asthma, but it almost felt like an asthma situation, where you just couldn’t get that deep breath in you once you left the rink and got into some fresh, clean air, it seemed like everything kind of dumbed down a little bit,” Wright said.

UNCW Environmental Health and Safety completed an investigation and there were no findings of carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia or other gases. Michael Baxter is the executive vice president of the Ice House parent company. In a statement to WWAY he revealed the possible cause saying in part:

“The only finding was that handheld monitors were showing lower humidity levels inside of the rink than the humidistat that runs the dehumidifier showed… At this point our only assumption is that the dehumidifier created a very dry environment on Saturday evening inside of the rink.”

In response to the low humidity levels, the Ice House replaced the humidistat to ensure the rink retains the correct levels of moisture. The Ice House posted on Facebook on Tuesday and stated the rink will be running on a normal schedule.