Connor Kasin, Massapequa High School hockey player, dies after collapsing during game

A Massapequa High School senior collapsed from a "sudden medical event" during a hockey game and was later pronounced dead.

Connor Kasin, 17, who was playing in a charity hockey game Saturday  in honor of a Syosset High School graduate who died in a car crash last year, lost consciousness on the ice during intermission, according to Nassau County police.

About 9 p.m. Saturday, medics and officers arrived at the Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center in Bethpage, where people were performing CPR on Kasin, according to police. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. 

Massapequa schools Superintendent William Brennan described what happened as a "sudden medical event" in a letter to the community. The specific circumstances were not immediately clear.

Condolences, tributes

The Massapequa Funeral Home in Massapequa Park announced on its website that visitation services for Kasin will be held Wednesday between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., and Thursday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The funeral Mass will take place Friday at 9:30 a.m. at St. William the Abbot R.C. Church in Seaford.

An outpouring of condolences flooded social media Sunday from Kasin’s friends and classmates, some saying they loved him and considered him a brother, and posting photos of him playing hockey, dressed up for Halloween and at a recent Friendsgiving. They tagged his jersey number, 37.

"Rest easy Connor. You were such an incredible person to have known and truly the nicest," one friend wrote on Instagram.

Kasin’s family could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Kasin was to play for Massapequa High on Sunday evening against Half Hollow Hills, one of several games scheduled as part of the New York Islanders High School Hockey League, but all were canceled, according to a message posted on the league website.

"It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the sudden passing of one of our NYIHSHL players last evening," the message says. " ... Our thoughts and prayers remain with the player's family, teammates and classmates throughout this most difficult time."

The hockey game Saturday night between Syosset and Massapequa was a memorial for Sabrina Navaretta, a 19-year-old Syosset graduate killed in an April 2023 crash in Delaware, where she was studying business management. Donations from game went to a foundation started by her parents, which in part funds support to families who have lost a child.

"Our hearts go out to Connor and his family," Navaretta's parents said in a statement Sunday morning. "They are in our thoughts and prayers."

A profile of Kasin on the website NCSA College Recruiting, lists him as a 6-foot-2, 195-pound left defenseman for the Long Island Sharks, a club hockey program. The site includes a six-minute YouTube link of Kasin in game action.

'A coach's dream'

In a personal statement on the site, Kasin says he began playing hockey at the age of 4.

"I am an active, social, and encouraging teammate both on and off of the ice," he says in the statement. " ... My goals are to get into a great college that provides me with both excellent coaching and education."

The Sharks are a youth hockey program based in Oyster Bay. The Sharks' website Sunday featured a smiling Kasin, photographed in his team uniform, along with a statement of condolences.

In an interview Sunday,  his head coach with the Sharks, Jeff Tempone, said of Kasin, choking up as he spoke: "He played hard, he was well-respected throughout the league. He was kind of like a coach's dream."

Kasin's family loved watching him play, Tempone said.

"Connor was his little brother's hero," he added.

Kasin's team is scheduled to practice on Monday. The players decided getting back on the ice to play the game their teammate loved most was the best way to honor his memory, Tempone said.

"You're not just coaching the skill," he said. "You're coaching them to be men. And Connor was a fine young man."

Kasin is at least the third Long Island youth to die after collapsing during a sporting event since 2022. 

Lazar LaPenna, a fourth grader at East Elementary School in Long Beach, died after suffering an epileptic seizure on April 29, 2022, while playing in a Long Beach/Lido Little League Baseball game.

On July 3, 2023, Robert Bush, 17, of Selden, collapsed on the field during football conditioning drills at Newfield High School after suffering a "cardiac event" and was removed from life support several days later.

Brennan, in the letter to district families, said there would be counseling services at the high school throughout the week.

"Connor was a cherished member of our school community, known for his kindness, positivity, enthusiasm, and big smile," Brennan wrote. "He had a way of bringing light and joy to those around him, and his absence will be felt deeply by all of us."