The most recent photo, posted on Oct. 5, showed him biking through a mountain park. Under it, nearly 1,000 people left comments filled with hearts and messages of “RIP” and “rest easy buddy.”
Mr. Balkind’s family could not be reached for comment on Saturday. School officials said in statements that his father had been in the audience at the game and traveled to the hospital with him.
Clark Jones, the director of hockey at the New Canaan Winter Club, called Mr. Balkind a positive presence on the team and said the community was deeply struggling with the loss.
“We lost a tremendous young man,” Mr. Jones wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Always smiling, a great teammate, and a passionate hockey player.”
St. Luke’s was closed on Friday because of snow but school officials told students the building would be open to offer community members space to process the death.
Officials at the Brunswick School, the all-boys private school and the host of Thursday’s game, said in messages to students that counseling and support services would be in place for the hockey players.
After Mr. Balkind’s death was confirmed in local news reports, families and community members in New Canaan leaned hockey sticks and other sports equipment alongside their door frames and on their porches in his memory.