Details are still sketchy, but former Regina Pats captain and current Winnipeg Jet Rick Rypien has been found dead at his Alberta home. Here is the story from the Globe and Mail.
The Winnipeg Jets issued this statement upon learning of Rick's death while the Vancouver Canucks issued this statement.
Regina Pats GM Brent Parker issued this statement....
The entire Regina Pats Organization is deeply saddened to hear of the tragic news of the passing of former Regina Pats Captain Rick Rypien. Rick was a tremendous friend, teammate and role model during his time in Regina and he epitomized everything we want our young men to be as people and as players. We would like to express our deepest sympathies to the Rypien family and all of his friends and teammates during this difficult time.”
On a personal note, Rick might have been the best captain the Pats have had in my time watching them. His heart, soul and desire was something else and it was that heart, soul and desire that got him to the NHL. Like others though, he had his demons and those demons have apparently won. RIP Rick.
8 comments:
Terrible news, but he was in fact a former Canuck. He'd just signed with Winnipeg, where he enjoyed success and popularity as a member of the Manitoba Moose.
Finn
Rick might have been the toughest SOB there was. He wouldn't back down to any challenge put in front of him. For a guy who never took the easy way to take the easy way out if what we are hearing is correct is surprising.
I had alwys heard about Rick's personal problems, but I didn't think it would come to this. If more players had the heart and desire that Rypien had, the NHL would be a better game. He fought, clawed and scratched for every shift he had and it showed.
First it was Boogaard and now Ripper. Its been a sad summer for the Pats in a variety of ways.
Anon #2,
Your last sentence may be the most ingorant statement I've read in a long time...
Hey Anonymous #5, you think that's the most ignorant statement you've heard in a long time??? Scruffy said the EXACT SAME F'n thing on Sportscage today with Derek Myers... Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Scruffy and Anon 2 are saying what a lot of people are saying. There's nothing ignorant to it, its just the cold, hard truth. No one wants to criticize a Pats defenceman for what he did this summer, but the cold hard truth is he was drinking and driving and killed a girl. Is that an ignorant statement to make as well?
There is a cold, hard truth to what happened to both Rick and to Myles Bell. Some just don't want to accept it. If Rick commmitted suicide as we are hearing, he obviously felt he had nowhere to turn and that it was over. I don't agree with that thought process, but I don't walk in his shoes either. What happened is very sad, but it could have been prevented by many including Rick himself. We will never ever know what demons he was fighting. Lets remember him for what he was and not his final chapter.
Terry C
Post a Comment