Community Corner
Another Ex-Indian Hills Hockey Player Dies 1 Year After Randy Rotella
Justin Ramirez was 25 when he died of a heroin overdose Wednesday. A former teammate said Ramirez lit up a room and was a 'great kid.'
OAKLAND, NJ — Another former Indian Hills hockey player had died of a heroin overdose — almost exactly a year after the first one died.
Justin J. Ramirez, 25, of Oakland, died Wednesday. He was a 2009 alumnus and played varsity hockey for four years, his obituary states.
Ramirez died almost exactly one year after Randy Rotella, another former player who died of a heroin overdose on April 6, 2016. He was a 2006 Indian Hills graduate.
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RELATED: Indian Hills Hockey Team Raising Money In Honor Of Late Alumni
Ramirez and Rotella will be honored with a special charity hockey game Saturday. Proceeds will be donated to the Market Street Mission, The Valentine House, a drug-recovery center, and Indian Hills ice hockey. More than $11,300 has been donated to date.
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John Dobson, Ramirez's former teammate, and current junior varsity hockey coach at Indian Hills, spoke highly of his friend. The two were lifelong friends.
"He lit up a room. He was one of the funniest people I've ever known," Dobson said. "He was just an awesome kid."
Ramirez just made a bad decision one night and that led to using heroin, Dobson said.
"It doesn't take much for someone to start going down that road," Dobson said. "He had his family behind him. It's a shocking loss for everyone. When people read this stuff, you don't connect drug use with them because they are such positive people, but they're dealing with it behind closed doors."
Dobson played hockey with Ramirez when he was 10 all the way up to varsity.
"He was a really gritty player who digged into the corners and had a fantastic shot," Dobson said. "If the locker room was down during or after a game, he could bring it back up."
A funeral Mass for Ramirez will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary's R.C. Church in Pompton Lakes.
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