Spruce Grove hockey team pays tribute to teammate killed in murder-suicide

Hockey team pays tribute to MacDougall brothers The Spruce Grove Timberwolves are playing hockey for the first time since their teammate and his younger brother were killed last week.

The Spruce Grove Timberwolves played hockey for the first time Tuesday since teammate Ryder MacDougall and his brother Radek died in a murder-suicide on December 19.

Teammates honoured Ryder by hanging his jersey behind the bench and wearing the defenceman’s number 3 on their jerseys and helmets.

“To lose a teammate and a brother like that, definitely going to miss him,” goalie Riley Nowoczin told CTV Edmonton.

Coaches say Ryder was quiet at first, but the outsider who moved from Whitecourt to Spruce Grove to play competitive hockey earned his teammate’s respect through his physical play.

“He was one of our tougher kids, for sure,” assistant coach Levi Ansell said. “If he wanted to push someone around or protect our goalie, protect one of his teammates, he was able to do it.”

After a cheer in his name and a moment of silence, the Timberwolves went back on the ice, wearing Ryder’s number 3.

With files from Jeremy Thompson