One week before he leaves home for a high-level hockey camp, Ty Mappin of Big Valley is mourning the sudden passing of one of his buddies, Dylan Fontaine of Red Deer.
“One of my friends passed away today,” Mappin, 16, said Monday night.
“I knew him through hockey, and then I went to school with him this year (at Hunting Hills high school in Red Deer). Probably one of the only kids I hung out with this year at school.”
This past season, Mappin played midget AAA hockey with the Canadian-champion Red Deer Optimist Rebels, while Fontaine skated with the Red Deer minor midget AAA team that won the provincial title.
Fontaine’s teammates with that Sutter Cup-champion club included the all-Stettler line of Dylan Houston and twins Adam and Scott Ternes.
“I played with him in Alberta Cup, summer hockey and things like that,” Mappin said of Fontaine.
“He was one of the best kids you’d ever meet. “… It is quite sad.”
Mappin is scheduled to depart next Monday for the
Team Pacific (Alberta and B.C.) under-17 evaluation camp in Kamloops, B.C.