A celebration of life for Todd Ewen is Oct. 9 in St. Albert.
The memorial for the St. Albert minor hockey product and former NHL player will be held at the Victory Life Church. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. and the service begins at 2 p.m.
The celebration of life continues at The Celtic Knot from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Ewen’s memory can be made to the St. Louis Blues Alumni Association at https://www.gofundme.com/nv4uwkpc. Donations received will be distributed to the research of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
Ewen, 49, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sept. 19 and a private funeral took place Sunday in St. Louis.
The Ewen family has agreed to donate Ewen’s brain to the Canadian Sports Concussion Research Project, where it will be examined for signs of possible brain degeneration or CTE, a progressive degenerative disease afflicting the brain of athletes in contact sports who have suffered repeated concussions and traumatic injuries.
Ewen played his junior hockey with the New Westminster Bruins in the Western Hockey League and in 1984 the Edmonton Oilers drafted the right-winger in the eighth round, 168th overall.
The NHL enforcer recorded 36 goals, 40 assists and 1,911 penalty minutes in 518 regular-season games with the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadians, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks. He won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993.
Ewen is survived by his wife, Kelli, and two sons, Tyler and Chad.
Sunday the St. Albert Merchants host the Sherwood Park Knights in the Capital Junior B Hockey League.
Faceoff is 8 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
The Knights are 3-1 and the Merchants were 2-2 prior to Friday’s road game against the Spruce Grove Regals (1-2). The score was unavailable at press time.
The second consecutive win for the Merchants was Sunday’s 5-4 decision against the North Edmonton Red Wings (1-3) in St. Albert.
Thomas Rotundo tallied twice, Tristan Gavin, Casey Reid and Jake Mercier also scored and Mike Bruni and Dan Rombough had two assists apiece.
Rotundo’s second goal, a shorthanded effort, made it 4-2 with 7:58 left in the third period and less than two minutes later Gavin struck on the power play.
Ty Clelland (2-2, 3.00 GAA) was in net against the 2015 Founders Cup champions, provincial gold medallists and Keystone Cup silver medallists at westerns.
