Hundreds In Eagan Hockey Community Remember Patric Vitek, 13
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thirteen-year-old Patrick Vitek from Eagan was struck and killed by a car while riding his bike to school Friday morning.
The seventh grader at Dakota Hills Middle School played hockey for the Eagan Hockey Association.
On Friday night, Vitek's Pee Wee A team was scheduled to have practice. Instead, hundreds of players, coaches and parents gathered for a vigil to remember him.
The night started out with lights off in the arena, candles in the middle of the ice and his team gathered around for a moment of silence.
Vitek's team and the Eagan Bantam team then played a scrimmage match, no score or winner. Instead, the scoreboard had "Patric Vitek" written in place of the team names, each score was "5" and the clock stood at "5:55," in honor of his jersey number.
The night ended with hundreds in the Eagan hockey community holding candles and having a moment of silence for Vitek.
Everything was quickly organized and put together by Eagan hockey parents. They wanted to help the kids in their grieving process.
The University of Minnesota's men's hockey team is asking for a moment of silence to remember Patric beofre Saturday's game.
"Whenever anybody passes, there's a feeling of being out of control and powerless," said Max Seeley, an Eagan hockey parent and coach. "And coming together and doing something like this gives us a way to grieve collectively."
It was not surprising to the parents that the kids just wanted to play hockey Friday night -- something Patric loved to do.
"I guess the good thing about kids is they're exceptionally resilient," said Seeley.
Several Eagan restaurants are donating 50% of customers' bills to help the family if they bring the following flyer to the restaurant this weekend:
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Vitek family.
Vitek's funeral will be on Friday, Nov. 8 at the Church of St. Thomas Becket, located at 4455 South Robert Trail in Eagan. The burial will begin at 11 a.m.