By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec – What started as a dream of playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League may have ended prematurely Friday night.

Auburn native and former Edward Little High School standout Colby Gilbert was hit stick-first by Guillaume Latendresse and then crumbled face-first to the ice near his own blue line while trying to clear the puck on a penalty kill.

With 7:35 to play in a 2-0 game, Gilbert lunged at a puck near his own blue line. Latendresse ran Gilbert stick-first and threw him into the boards.

“He got hit from behind and it does not look very good,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “It looks like something cervical, but it looks very, very bad.”

Gilbert lay motionless for more than 15 minutes while medical personnel tended to him.

Gilbert’s parents had accompanied the team to Drummondville on the Lewiston Maineiacs’ fan bus, and had to watch helplessly as their son was wheeled off the ice, immobilized on a stretcher and surrounded by the arena’s medical staff.

The team went to the hospital immediately following the game, and were expected to return to Lewiston much later than expected.

In the fracas following the incident, Maineiacs’ defenseman Bobby Gates took a double-minor roughing penalty while trying to avenge his teammate,. Latendresse received a minor for roughing.

Gilbert’s injury may have overshadowed another missing person in the latter stages of Friday’s game. Midway through the second period, Alexandre Picard climbed over the boards and never returned, leaving the Maineiacs without nine everyday players.

“His mother is very, very sick,” said Jodoin. “He was not supposed to be here, but he thought he would give it a try. He was not mentally all there, so he left.”