A cardiologist says there's no right age for someone to hang up their skates in the wake of Alan Thicke's death from a heart attack after playing hockey with his son.
The Canadian actor died Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 69.
Dr. Todd Anderson, director of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and spokesman for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, said he tells healthy patients to enjoy activities such as hockey.
"I caution them about doing it to extremes, you know go out and enjoy yourself, get some activity, but don't play like you're 25," Anderson said. "For other individuals that have significant heart disease, then I tend to discourage that kind of activity."
Anderson says the current recommendations are for 150 minutes of aerobic activity a week and he'd like to see people get it.
But he says it's a case-by-case scenario.
"The fact that he was playing hockey wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It just happened to be the case where this is where it happened."
Media reports from the U.S. say Thicke was vomiting and not feeling well, but was able to talk when paramedics arrived.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation's website says nausea is one of the signs of a heart attack, along with shortness of breath, light-headedness, chest discomfort, sweating and neck, jaw, shoulder, arm and back pain.
Anderson says many people have warning signs before having a heart attack.
"But unfortunately, for at least a quarter of people who have a heart attack, is that their first event is a sudden death."
During the 2011 election campaign, the federal Conservatives promised to put defibrillators in arenas across the country that could be used on people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, which can occur after a heart attack.
In February 2013, then-prime minister Stephen Harper stood on the ice at a Saskatoon rink and said the goal was to have 1,500 in rinks that don't already have them.
Steve Lyon, with the Kitchener-Waterloo Oldtimers Hockey Club, has made a list of the location of each defibrillator in every arena where the club plays. The list is in the binder given to team captains. The club also partners with St. John Ambulance to offer an adult CPR course.
"If you see some of the players in the older divisions, they go at it very slow," said Lyon, noting some of the players are 80-years-old.
"Everybody looks out for each other. If anybody's in the dressing room and looks like they shouldn't be going out onto the ice, they're told not to by the captains or even some of their fellow players."
Lyon said players usually recognize when it's time to hang up the skates. Sometimes the league has to step in, he said.
"There's been a few times where we've met with a player and said 'We just don't think, for your own safety, that it's worthwhile playing any more,' and it's a hard thing because a lot of these elderly players have been playing with the same guys for decades," he said.
"It's hard for them ... because part of our league is also the camaraderie."
TOM GREEN PAYS TRIBUTE TO 'LEGENDARY' ALAN THICKE AS 'ENTERTAINMENT ICON'
Tom Green remembers watching Alan Thicke's homegrown talk show as a kid in Pembroke, Ont., in the early 1980s.
Green was only about seven but was entranced with Thicke's baritone-voiced charm, humour and ease with guests, he recalled Wednesday, a day after Thicke died of a heart attack in Los Angeles at age 69.
"It was one of the first shows that I remember watching that was in the format of something that I grew to love and wanted to emulate, seeing him sitting behind a desk and doing hilarious and funny interviews during the day on Canadian TV," Green said in a phone interview.
"My show started as a public-access show and I was very inspired by his show that he produced called 'Fernwood 2 Night,' which was a hilarious parody of an independent, public-access show."
Years later, Green found himself face-to-face with his inspiration, as Thicke became a frequent guest on his Internet show and then on "Tom Green Live" on AXS TV.
"We've lost a legendary Canadian show business and entertainment icon," said Green. "I know he was quite proud of being Canadian and he was quite proud of being a pioneer in the Canadian entertainment industry."
Many of Thicke's peers echoed Green's description of a humble workhorse who was a champion for Canada, where he grew up in Kirkland Lake, Ont.
"He would come to Canada a lot and he was always pitching shows," said John Murray, vice-president and executive producer of Toronto-based Insight Productions.
"They weren't necessarily Canadian but he never lost touch with the Canadian business. He would sometimes pitch you a show because he knew it might be right for the Canadian TV landscape, or it might be something he knew a network might be interested in here."
Edmonton writer-director Chris Craddock last saw Thicke about two weeks ago at the Whistler Film Festival in B.C., where they celebrated the Canadian premiere of their offbeat comedy "It's Not My Fault and I Don't Care Anyway."
"Even then he was going so hard," he said. "He had a flight delay, came into town, caught the screening, did a talkback, did a thing. He was always going 100 miles an hour and I think that's the way that he liked it."
Before Thicke became a star in the U.S., with roles including wholesome patriarch Dr. Jason Seaver on "Growing Pains," he worked on various TV programs in Canada. It was while he was working at the CBC that he met American singer Gloria Loring, who was performing at the Royal York Hotel. The two eventually married and moved to California, where they had two sons, including pop star Robin Thicke.
They divorced in 1984 but remained friends.
"I learned so much from being around him," said Loring, noting she recently saw him at a family gathering at Robin's home for U.S. Thanksgiving.
"He was such a go-getter and had this sense of 'I can do whatever needs to be done.' I think his greatest asset was his willingness to work hard and his sense of humour."
While he established roots south of the border, he continued to return to Canada for various events and to participate in — and pitch — a wide range of projects.
Craddock said he recruited Thicke for the Edmonton-shot "It's Not My Fault and I Don't Care Anyway" after getting him to do a guest spot on his Canadian series "Tiny Plastic Men."
He was a "hungry artist" who craved grittier roles. He relished the chance to play a self-help guru who takes his philosophy of "perfect selfishness" to a whole new level when his daughter is kidnapped.
It was a role that flew in the face of the great American dad image he had on "Growing Pains" and was an ironic one he embraced later in his career.
"Alan was a funny guy and had a real sense of humour," said Craddock. "He was aware of his image. The irony wasn't lost on him, so he did a lot of ironic turns."
Thicke's recent "Unusually Thicke" reality/sitcom hybrid series was another example of that, as was a project Murray was developing with him a few years ago.
Murray said it was a scripted buddy comedy series called "We Met in Rehab" and focused on an aging iconic TV dad who meets a younger rock star in rehab.
It was close to getting picked up by one network, and while it didn't get the green light, Insight hasn't given up on the premise, said Murray.
"He was just really a pleasure to work with," he said. "Obviously he was well known and iconic and famous but he was very, very down to Earth, he was really easy to work with, he treated you like an equal and he was always very enthusiastic about everything you did.
"He was very proactive, he had a lot of energy, oh my God. He was just always thinking up new shows."
Loring said Thicke died after having "a major cardiac event" while playing hockey with 19-year-old son Carter.
"He died the way any good Canadian should — playing hockey with his son. Family and hockey, there it is. Hard work on the side, but family and hockey."
