Anchorage Daily News

David Carle, a highly regarded defenseman from Anchorage expected to be picked in Saturday's National Hockey League draft, has withdrawn his name from consideration after doctors discovered a heart condition that will end his playing career. Carle, 18, said doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., this week diagnosed him with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart. That condition puts those who suffer it at risk of sudden cardiac death during stenuous physical activity.

Carle said NHL doctors at the league's scouting combine in Toronto first detected an abnormality in his heart earlier this month. Subsequent testing at the Mayo Clinic revealed his condition. He said he will no longer play hockey, but that the University of Denver is honoring his scholarship and he will begin his freshman year there in the fall.

"It's really not the end of the world,'' Carle said Friday from Faribault, Minn., where he is visiting friends. "I'm really quite fortunate they were able to find it. I've still got a long life ahead of me. I have a lot to look forward to and a lot of opportunities ahead of me.''

Carle said he wanted to thank the NHL's doctors for discovering the problem and Denver for honoring his scholarship. He also encouraged all athletes, and particularly young ones, to undergo tests that can reveal conditions such as his because the first symptom can be deadly.

"That's why the disease is so scary -- you don't know you have it,'' Carle said. "Oftentimes, your first symptom is your last symptom.''

Carle said he had never experienced any indication of a heart problem -- no chest pain, shortness of breath or fainting.

Carle has played the last three seasons for Shattuck-St. Mary's, a prep school in Faribault that regularly develops some of the nation's top young hockey players. He helped Shattuck to two straight USA Hockey championships.

Carle's father, Bob, who accompanied his son to the Mayo Clinic, said he's proud of David, the middle son of he and Karen Carle's three boys. Their oldest son is Matt Carle, a defenseman for the NHL's San Jose Sharks and a past winner of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey's best player while at Denver.

"I'm pretty proud of (David),'' Bob Carle said. "I've always told the boys, 'I'm more proud of who you are than what you do.' The kid amazes me. He's handled this better than I did, for sure.''

David Carle said he informed Denver coach George Gwozdecky of his condition on Thursday after receiving the news from doctors. Gwozdecky told father and son the school would honor David's scholarship and welcome him into its hockey family.

"What a classy guy,'' Bob Carle said. "I told him, 'I already had a very high opinion of the University of Denver. This phone call just increased it ten-fold.' ''

Bob Carle said that Kurt Overhardt, David's advisor and Matt's agent, informed NHL teams that David was removing his name from consideration from the draft because of his diagnosis.

The first round of the draft was held today. David Carle was expected to be drafted Saturday, when the second through seventh rounds of the draft are conducted in Ottawa.

For more on David Carle, check Saturday's print edition of the Daily News.

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