A student athlete is in hospital with life-threatening head injuries and a man is charged with attempted murder after a late-night attack in the Bloor West Village area early Saturday morning.

Michael Serba, 25, of Toronto left a bar to get money from a bank machine across the street around 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

Student athlete Michael Serba, 25, was taking a master's of business at Norwich University in Vermont where he was recruited to play hockey.
(Toronto Police Services)

When he returned to his friends in Bryden's bar in a laneway north of Bloor Street, he told them he'd been "sucker-punched" by someone, police said.

Serba and his friends went out in search of the attacker.

Police said Serba was then approached by a man who struck him in the head with an unknown object. News reports say it may have been a brick.

Serba, who is taking a master's of business at Norwich University in Vermont where he was recruited to play hockey, was home for American Thanksgiving weekend, according to news reports.

Shortly after the attack, the suspect left the area in a van-style taxi and was arrested a short distance from the crime scene.

Nicholas Crowdis, 22, of Toronto has been charged with attempted murder.

The motive for the attack is unknown.

Police have been interviewing witnesses and are searching for one man who they believe was in the area during the altercation.

The man, who they say may be a witness, is described as between 20 and 25 years old, wearing baggy clothes and a grey hoodie.