CLAYTON, N.Y. (AP) A New York high school basketball player who helped rescue an ice fisherman from Lake Ontario was kept from suiting up for a game because the heroics caused him to miss the team bus. WWNY-TV reports that Lucas Patchen was among the volunteer firefighters in Clayton who rescued a stranded fisherman from a drifting slab of ice in Chaumont Bay last Saturday.
The rescue caused him to miss the Thousand Islands High School team's departure for a road playoff game later that day. When he arrived at the game, his coach told him he was benched because he violated the school's policy that requires any player not riding on a team bus to call the coach or athletic director.The teen says he was unable to call anyone while the ice rescue effort was underway.
PhotoCred: WWNY-TV