Posts Tagged ‘hockey deaths’

Wade Belak was found dead in the Tony 1 King West Hotel and Residence in downtown Toronto, August 31st.  The hockey star was just 35 years old.  Belak played 15 seasons with the NHL with five teams and retired on March 8th, 2011.  Belak was raised in Battleford, Saskatchewan, his hometown is crushed by this sad loss.

Wade Belak is the third NHL player to die in just less than four months.  Rick Rypien, former Vancouver Canucks was found dead on August 15th.  On May 13th Derek Boogaard, 28, was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment from a drug overdose.

Wade Belak was in Toronto to film the third season of the Battle of the Blades.  It is a reality-show of hockey and figure skating which begins September 18th.

It has been a sad few months for hockey fans, as we have lost some great players.  My heart goes out to the families who have lost their loved ones.

RCMP have said that Rick Rypien has been found dead in his Coleman, Alberta home on August 15th, 2011.  Rypien was only 27 years old and was excited to go to training camp for the Winnipeg Jets.

Rick Rypien was battling depression but was said to have been in a good place before his sudden death.  Rypien took two personal leaves from the Vancouver Canucks twice in the last three seasons.  Rypien wasn’t offered a new contract with the Canucks but was signed as a free agent to a one year, $700,000  deal with the Winnipeg Jets. 

Reports say that Rypien’s cause of death was suicide, I however can not confirm this.  My heart goes out to Rick Rypiens family and all the people affected by this tragic loss.