Edmonton Oilers center Colby Cave of North Battleford, Saskatchewan passed away on Saturday of a brain bleed according to Jim Parsons of The Hockey Writers. He was only 25 years of age.
Cave went to a Barrie hospital earlier this week complaining of headaches. He was then taken to the Sunnybrook Hospital critical care unit in Toronto, Ontario, where it was determined Cave had a brain bleed. Cave was then put in a coma and had brain surgery Tuesday as doctors removed a cyst that was putting pressure on his brain. He did not recover from the surgery.
Cave played three seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers from 2017-2020. He had four goals and five assists for nine points in 67 games.
In 11 games with the Oilers in 2019-20, Cave had one goal and one point. He was a -3 with four penalty minutes, five shots on goal, 36 faceoff wins, three blocked shots, 17 hits, three takeaways and one giveaway. Cave scored his only goal for the Oilers this past season in a 2-1 Oilers win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 2, 2019. Cave scored the Oilers first goal from Matt Benning and Markus Granlund at 7:21 of the second period.
Cave played his junior career with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League from 2010 to 2015. He spent five seasons with the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League from 2014 to 2019, and then 44 games with the Bakersfield Condors (Oilers top affiliate) of the American Hockey League in 2019-20. Cave had 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points.
Cave is survived by his wife Emily. They just got married in July of 2019.
