TRAGIC

‘Miracle on Ice’ Star Mark Pavelich’s Death Ruled a Suicide

The Olympic hero was committed to a Minnesota treatment facility when he died last month.

An autopsy has determined that Mark Pavelich, a key member of the U.S. hockey team that pulled off a “Miracle on Ice” against the Soviets Union at the 1980 Olympics, died of suicide a month ago while committed to a treatment facility. The 63-year-old Minnesota native’s family has said they believe he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) from blows to the head during his professional hockey career—and that the brain injury led him to beat up a fishing buddy in 2019. A judge ruled Pavelich was a danger to the public but incompetent to stand trial and sent him to Eagle’s Healing Nest in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, for treatment. He was found dead there March 4 of asphyxiation.