COLUMBUS, OHIO ? Seconds after being hit by a puck as she watched an NHL game, 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil held a jacket to her head to stop the bleeding and walked to an exit.

Two days later she was dead, the first such fan fatality and one of the few at an American sports event, other than auto racing, directly related to action on the field.

An eighth grader at Twin Valley South Middle School near Dayton, Brittanie would have turned 14 today. Her father had taken her to the game as an early present, friends said.

The girl was struck in the head by a shot early in the second period of Saturday night’s game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena.

Columbus center Espen Knutsen’s slap shot from the top of the left circle appeared to be deflected by a defenseman, with the puck flying over the high glass at the west end of the ice. It appeared to glance off another spectator and hit the teen in the left temple, witnesses said.

Arena officials and medical personnel immediately approached the girl and helped her out of her seat some 15 rows above the ice and up the steps to the exit.

Hospital officials would not disclose the cause of her death Monday night and relatives declined comment. Her classmates were in mourning and the small town where she lived was overcome by the loss.

“I spoke to Brittanie’s father this morning,” Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean said, teary eyed and his voice choking. “As a father of a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old, I can’t imagine the grief the family is experiencing.”

In a statement, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, “Our fans are our family, and this tragic accident fills us all with a deep sense of sorrow.”

Children’s Hospital confirmed the girl had died but at the family’s request did not provide additional information about how long she had been in the hospital.