team memorials..

[guitarfreek92 7]

alright not something that happens very often but recently my team had a member pass away unexpectedly. and a bunch of us got together and decided that we were going to try and commemorate him. and we've been throwing a few ideas around. but was looking to see what other people have done or have seen people do.

[MThockeydad 469]

Custom patch or ribbon on your jerseys?

[chk hrd 164]

Have a memorial hockey game. We have done this a few times. Make a deal with the rink to donate the ice, each person that plays and has to make a minimum donation and ask anyone watching to donate. All the proceeds can go to the person's family or favorite charity.

[akravetz 29]

We just had this. Our beloved captain who was also the head of the youth hockey "mini-mite" program here in Peoria died on his way home from a kids' practice. Was on his motorcycle and died. The youth hockey group had a symbol of Joe silkscreened on the kids' jerseys.

And our men's league team had patches (we are sponsored by an Irish bar) of a pint of Guinness with the guy's number, 1/2. Really. That was his number. Also, for each game, he's still on our roster, we sign him in and we had his jersey reprinted. It's taped onto the wall behind the bench each game. A bit much maybe but it works for us. There is also talk of a scholarship fund being created and the bar who sponsored us (which is owned by his brother) is having a NYE party where proceeds go to youth hockey.

[ibeck 38]

Patch with his initials and or number on your buckets, maybe print out a picture of him and have the whole team sing in and present it to his wife/parents/girlfriend (sorry not sure of his family relationship). Headline of the picture could be "never forgotten" for example.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Custom patch or ribbon on your jerseys?

Patch yes, ribbon no. The ribbon thing is way overdone.

That said, I think JYA is able to do small patches (or at least worth asking about). Failing that, try to find somebody who does custom embroidery on etsy.

[MThockeydad 469]

Sorry, I meant more of an armband type ribbon. I agree the curled ribbon thing is waaay overdone.

[Harv 86]

During my college career, I had a teammate take his own life during the season. Had a company make small helmet stickers for the team to wear and for general use. Felt it was better solution than a big jersey patch or ribbon that people would constantly be asking about.

Had his away jersey travel around with the team the remainder of the season and then was given to his family. His home jersey is in his casket with him.

Still have a sheet left..

[SmokinApricot 22]

A few years back a team at our rink had a team member die and they did the helmet sticker, but with only the #. I thought it was a nice touch without being overdone.

[fogelberg 9]

I too had a teammate pass away, from cystic fibrosis. I got some helmet stickers printed up with his initials on them. Gave them to everyone that had played with him. Another guy set up a memorial skate where we donate any proceeds past the cost of the ice rental to the cystic fibrosis foundation. I wasn't able to do the skate this year and I was really bummed by that.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

We lost a teammate about a year and a half ago. We got patches and stickers with his initials and number. We also put his number on our shoulders. Oddly, refs read the number off our shoulder quite often and credit him with the goal or assist. We leave him on the roster. As of right now, he has 4 points in 5 games.

[DarkStar50 679]

JP was Swiss. We have the Swiss flag with his initials JP as a helmet sticker. After every skate in the locker room we have a toast to JP. "Booshit Hockey!"

[chrisehyoung 14]

We had our goalie die from a heart condition some years ago. We had just finished up our ball hockey season as champs. We couldn't get a sponsor that year so we all just wore red shirts and called ourselves "The Red Team". In his honour we rejected team sponsorship the next year and continued to wear our red shirts. When a local bar with red colours caught wind they offered to sponsor us and buy us all new red shirts. They had "The Red Team" logo'd on the front and Hamlin 72 on the back of every jersey. That was our goalie's name and number. They didn't even ask for any of their logos put on the jersey. We, however, did ask for their logo on the shoulders and gave them plenty of business and mentions in the paper when we repeated as champs.

[iceholes 0]

unfortunately have done this way more than I care to recall...and its making the hair stand up on the back of my head.

The thing that gets me most and I look for it every time I enter the rink ...is the rink allowed a jersey to be hung up at one end of the ice in the rafters. Its not in a prominent location, takes away from nothing or advertising space, and the player played at the rink for years. It can be seen, and simplistically is just his jersey (had his name on it too...)

Also had benefits.