Javier Alexis Urquiaga. (Handout Photo)

SAINT-SEVERIN, QUE. - Municipal workers found the body of a nine-year-old boy on an outdoor ice rink on Saturday, 200 km northeast of Montreal.

Javier Alexis Urquiaga's body was pinned under a hockey net, a witness said.

The boy's mother told QMI Agency that her son woke up early on Saturday to play hockey by himself at a local park in the town of Saint-Severin, Que.

Municipal employees working across the park said they noticed the boy's body around 9:15 a.m.

"We thought he was playing with the net," said Renald Desaulniers. "We approached him and noticed that he wasn't moving. We called 911."

Desaulniers said the rink hadn't been cleared of snow but the boy had brushed away some of it from a small section of the rink.

"I think he tried to drag the net to the cleared section of the ice and his lost his footing," Desaulniers said.

The boy's body will be autopsied to determine how he died, police said.