Adriaan Jozef Kea (January 19, 1948 – August 31, 1999) was a Dutch-born Canadian ice hockey defenceman.
Born in Weesp, North Holland, Netherlands, but raised in Collingwood, Ontario (his family moved to Canada when he was four years old),[1] Kea started his National Hockey League career with the Atlanta Flames.
Because he was playing in a minor league game, NHL benefits for catastrophic injuries did not apply to his case, and he and his family struggled financially for several years because he was unable to hold a job.
On September 1, 1999, Kea accidentally drowned at his family's summer home in Six Mile Lake in Ontario.
[3][4] In 2012, Dave Bidini claimed in an opinion article for the National Post that Kea committed suicide due to undiagnosed injuries and concussions from his playing career.