Vancouver Canucks Rick Rypien’s funeral date set for Saturday – NHL News Update
In one of the most tragic events of the year, the entire National Hockey League (NHL) and fans around the world suffered a great loss after the death of young professional hockey player, Rick Rypien, whose body was found in his Alberta home on Monday.
After mourning from around Canada and the United Sates along with the NHL and many other hockey associations, Rypien’s funeral date has been set for Saturday, August 20th. His family has decided to hold a public funeral for the player in Blairmore,
Alberta, Canada, which is nearby him hometown of Coleman.
Bobby Ryan, Anaheim Ducks renowned forward sent out a message for Rypien, even though he had not known the player personally.
"The hockey community lost another good member today. RIP Rick, never met you. But you played a tough position and did it well", Ryan tweeted via social networking website, Twitter, after hearing about the news.
Rick Rypien’s stepmother, Nola, who is one of the main organizers of the funeral, expects a large turnout come Saturday, as people from all walks of life who knew the 27-year-old player will surely come to pay their last respects before letting him go.
“I’m sure there will be. Everybody has to deal with it on their own”, Nola told a local city newspaper in an interview after the funeral date had been announced.
Many deaths of this kind when a celebrity is found dead in their home is considered in some way suspicious, but in regards of Rypien, who had given the impression to his friends and family that he was happy, actually was battling and was part of a big war
against a disease that ultimately took his life.
It is quite well known that Rypien had been fighting depression for a long time now, approximately for over 10 years now, but he had never let anyone know that he had been suffering from such problems.
Even people from the fan base who knew nothing of Rypien except his stats and how he performed on the ice, gave him credit for being a fighter and standing up to the big guns even though he was much smaller in size.
Rypien might not have been able to achieve a lot in nature, but he certainly will never be forgotten.
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