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‘Violent’ check left female hockey player with brain damage: suit

By
Kathianne Boniello
Published Oct. 22, 2022, 12:39 p.m. ET
Hudson Valley woman Chelsea Noe claimed in a lawsuit that she was left with a brain injury after getting checked by a male player in a Saugerties Hockey League game.
Hudson Valley woman Chelsea Noe claimed in a lawsuit that she was left with a brain injury after getting checked by a male player in a Saugerties Hockey League game. Getty Images

All she wanted to do was play hockey, but instead a Hudson Valley woman claims she suffered brain damage when a male goon violently cross-checked her during a game.

Chelsea Noe, 38, is now suing, arguing that the hit never should have happened.

The upstate Saugerties Hockey League was supposed to have rules barring checking, or one player slamming into another, Noe charges in a lawsuit.

But the rule wasn’t enforced on Feb. 10. 2019, Noe claims, as her club, the War Horses, took the ice against the Blue Crew.

It was the third and final period of the game when Noe — known to be the “smallest, lightest and weakest” player in the league — was struck, court papers said.

Noe asserts in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit that opponent David Lynch, 50, came at her with “the weight of his entire body and the momentum of rapid movement,” slamming his stick into her back.

Lynch was known for excessive roughness, repeated hits and other violations in the “no checking” league, Noe contends.

He was penalized for the hit, but not ejected.

According to a lawsuit, the league did not enforce its rule barring checking.
According to a lawsuit, the league did not enforce its rule barring checking. Sharon Hanley/Facebook

The Hyde Park man was a player of “substantial size, weight and strength” who was “excessively aggressive,” while Noe described herself in the lawsuit as the “least capable” of being able to defend herself against the forceful play.

Noe appears to have played just one season in the Saugerties Hockey League, appearing in 13 games for the War Horses in 2018-2019. She scored three goals and lodged 10 assists, while being given 10 penalty minutes, according to the league web site.

The cross check left Noe with a “severe traumatic brain injury,” she claimed.

She’s now unable to work or go about her daily life after injuries to her “head, brain, cervical spine, to her torso and to her extremities,” according to court papers.

The Ulster County woman now deals with cognitive impairment, chronic migraines, memory loss, nausea and dizziness, among other injuries, she charges.

Noe is suing Lynch; War Horses coach Christopher Rivers; referee William Winters; the Saugerties Hockey League; the New York State Amateur Hockey League and USA Hockey for unspecified damages.

Lynch, Rivers and the Saugerties league didn’t return messages seeking comment. Winters couldn’t be reached.