The mere mention of St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester collapsing during a game due to a cardiac episode Tuesday night instantly brought back difficult memories for Mike Milbury.

A former NHL player, coach and general manager, Milbury, now an analyst for NBC, spent Wednesday morning at Warrior Ice Arena as the Bruins prepared to host the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden. But he could not get the events of Oct. 23, 1982, out of his mind.

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That was the day when the once-promising career of Bruins prospect Normand Leveille, then 19, came to an end when Leveille suffered a brain aneurysm in the locker room during the first intermission of a game against the Canucks in Vancouver.

“I remember the chaos,” Milbury recalled. “You’re going about your business and all of a sudden it was like a five-alarm fire. People were running back and forth and nobody knew what was going on.”

Barry Pederson was 21, only two years older than Leveille when he was stricken. Pederson recalls it being a surreal scene.

“Confused and scared,” Pederson remembers feeling that night. “Nobody really knew what was going on. As a professional athlete, of course you try to stay focused. Injuries are part of the game and you’re one big, happy family, but at the same time you care about somebody and you’re trying to be professional about what you have in front of you.”

Since it was the first intermission, the Bruins still had two periods to play without knowing exactly what was happening with their teammate.

Milbury remembers that then-Bruins trainer Jim Kausek updated the players on Leveille’s condition as often as possible. Despite the severity of the situation, the game continued. During the second period, the Bruins players gained a little more information.

“We then got some sense of the scope of things, that he had some sort of aneurysm. We were all in shock,” Milbury recalls. “We went back to the hotel and basically were on a death watch, for lack of a better phrase. It was really that touch-and-go. There was a point where somebody got word that he wasn’t going to make it.”

Added Pederson, “It went from an injury to a potential loss of life. It cascaded quickly.”

The Bruins lost the game, 3-2. It was during a time before charter flights when teams traveled commercially and Los Angeles was the Bruins’ next stop on the road trip, with them slated to play the Kings the next day. Leveille remained at the hospital in Vancouver, where he underwent a seven-hour surgery to deal with the aneurysm, which was determined to be congenital.

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“None of us really wanted (to play), but there was no choice,” Milbury said. “We didn’t know from one hour to the next, but the show must go on. We were all distracted. You give it your best shot, but there’s no doubt it was less than ideal conditions and it reflected in the performance of the team.”

Boston dropped a 5-4 decision to L.A. on Oct. 24.

“It was very numbing,” Pederson said of playing the next night. “It was testing your professionalism and almost to see if you weren’t human. We were there, but we really weren’t.”

Bouwmeester lost consciousness on the bench Tuesday, but regained it after the use of a defibrilator, Blues officials told reporters Wednesday. Bouwmeester remains hospitalized and is undergoing tests to determine the cause of the event, which took place during the first period of Tuesday’s game between the Blues and Anaheim Ducks. The game was postponed after Bouwmeester’s episode. Similar postponements occurred when Rich Peverley collapsed due to a cardiac event during a game in March 2014 while playing for the Dallas Stars, when Craig Cunningham collapsed on the ice before an AHL game for the Tucson Roadrunners in November 2016 due to a cardiac event and also when Tulsa Oilers (ECHL) coach Rob Murray collapsed on the bench during a game in November 2017.

“With Bouwmeester, I can understand them not wanting to play,” Milbury said. “But it was a different era, a different time and everything is handled a little differently these days.”

During the 1982-83 season, the Bruins were in the midst of rebuilding the organization and the team consisted of an older core, along with a younger group of players. Pederson remembers the veterans helped the younger players handle the situation.

“For a lot of us it was our first feel of mortality,” Pederson said. “In your early 20s you’re blessed with health, and your family, and you don’t have a lot of death come across your way. This was a distinct possibility.

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“It was tough.”

Pederson and Leveille were roommates in Boston. After a few weeks, Pederson remembers Wayne Cashman, then in his last season with the Bruins, stepping in and telling the younger players to snap out of it.

“The older guys were there for us to lean on,” Pederson said. “He said, ‘Unfortunately this is life and athletics and we’ve got a job to do. We’ve got to do it for Normand and use it as kind of a rallying cry and become even closer and not drift away.’ It was a moving life experience, especially for the young guys. The game was secondary. We’ve got a friend and a brother here who’s in trouble.”

Unfortunately, Leveille’s NHL career came to an end that night. But after spending three weeks in a coma, he recovered the ability to walk, and went on to found the Centre Normand Leveille, a 200-acre recreational camp for those with disabilities, in Drummondville, Quebec. He still participates in the Bruins alumni events, including the annual golf tournament every September. It’s tough to think of the what-ifs when it comes to his career, but he had the ability to maybe one day become a superstar.

“When he first came up he was so young, but he could fly and at the time of his issue he was beginning to understand the game,” Milbury said. “The best I can compare him to, and it’s hard to do because this guy’s a Hall of Famer, but Yvan Cournoyer comes to mind. (Leveille) could scoot, he could go to the net, he had some finish. It looked like he was emerging as a dynamic asset for our team.”

Pederson still has a picture hanging at his house with himself and Leveille at a charity event.

“It’s difficult. It’s he and I together smiling and when I look at it I always shake my head, kind of what could have been and what should have been,” Pederson said. “He had so much potential.”

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It’s times like these that remind us this is only a game.

(Photo of Leveille: Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)