Nick's No. 12 to be retired

SCOTT TRACEY

DARREN CALABRESE, GUELPH MERCURY A family member consoles Andrew Lambden as he wears his son Nicholas's hockey jersey during the boy's funeral a week ago.

GUELPH (Feb 24, 2007)

After this season, no Guelph Minor Hockey player will ever again wear number 12 on their jerseys.

The hockey association's board of directors recently voted unanimously to retire the number in honour of 10-year-old Nicholas Lambden, who died two weeks ago after he was hit in the head with a puck during a game of pickup hockey on an outdoor rink near his home.

It is the first time in the association's 59-year history a number has been retired from active use.

Minor hockey president Tim Cooper explained he spoke to Nick's coach, Jeff Clarke, about whether his Atom double A team would want to use No. 12 next season when they get new jerseys. Clarke said they would not, and proposed retiring the number to honour the young star.

Cooper made a motion to that effect at the board meeting last Sunday.

"There really was no discussion," he said yesterday. "It was unanimous."

There are several players wearing 12 this season. It will be officially retired at the association's annual general meeting in May "and then no one else will wear that number," Cooper said.

He noted it is a fitting way to forever remember the left-winger known to his teammates as Wheels because of his fantastic speed.

The Guelph Storm OHL club sent Nick's team a framed official Storm sweater with "Lambden" and the number 12 on the back.

It will likely be hung at the West End Community Centre, where all the Guelph Minor Hockey Association's rep-league teams play their home games, along with a plaque explaining who Nick was and why his number was retired.

"It will help serve as a constant reminder of how fragile life is and the need to play safe," Cooper said.

Police have confirmed Nick was not wearing a helmet when he was hit by the puck on Feb. 11.

"I think it's a wonderful gesture," Maria Ruffini, whose son Mikael is on Nick's team, said of retiring the boy's number.

Ruffini said the boys on the team "are dealing with it one day at a time. They have good days and they have bad days and it's very difficult for them to be on the ice without their partner."

Cooper said the pain of losing Nicholas is being felt across the association.

When he proposed retiring the number during the board meeting, "you could feel the emotion around the table. It's so difficult to lose someone that young so we're all really struggling with it.

"The emotions are still right at the surface."

Nick's team returned to the ice for the first time since the boy's death on Tuesday, losing a playoff game in Ancaster 2-0.

They will play their next home game today at the West End Community Centre starting at 5:10 p.m.

Minor hockey representatives have been trying to get people to come out and support the Guelph team, which is still reeling from the loss of their friend.

"I'd like to see hockey fans come out and support the boys," Cooper said. "It has to be incredibly difficult for them to step onto the ice without their leader."

Ruffini said with the team back on the ice this week, emotions have come flooding back.

"Now that we're back into a normal routine where we would have been seeing Nick three or four times a week it's really difficult," she said. "There's a black hole."

Nick's death has attracted national attention. Last Saturday, Don Cherry paid tribute to the boy on his Coach's Corner segment of Hockey Night in Canada, and this week TSN commentator James Duthie wrote a column, entitled "Remembering Wheels," on the network's website.

Duthie wrote he is often asked if he could watch one hockey player, past or present, play a game, who he would choose.

"If I could watch one player lace up the skates and play a game, I would choose a skinny left-winger from Guelph, Ont.," Duthie wrote.

"A player who moved so fast, they called him Wheels."

stracey@guelphmercury.com