Canucks' Bieska lost a 'brother' in Rypien.

[dh1333]

VANCOUVER — Kevin Bieksa had two brothers when he was growing up. Then he met Rick Rypien and had three.The last time Bieksa spoke with Rypien, a month after Rick had left the Vancouver Canucks to sign with the Winnipeg Jets, they discussed how strange it would be to play against each other in March and joked about fighting at centre ice at Rogers Arena.

Later, we learned that Rypien had been fighting clinical depression for years. A week after his phone call with Bieksa, Rypien was found dead at home in Crowsnest Pass, Alta. He was 27.

There was never going to be another game for Rick Rypien. Never another talk with his mom, Shelley Crawford, never another moment with dad, Wes, or a joke with his brother, Wes Jr. Never another laugh with teammates. Never another anything.

But Tuesday night, the Rypiens will make it to centre ice after all when the Canucks honour Rick before their National Hockey League game against the New York Rangers. Rypien's legacy will be a website, funded by a $50,000 donation from the Canucks, to help young people deal with depression and other mental-health issues.

Bieksa will remember Rypien for much more than that.

"He had a huge heart and he really didn't like for people to worry about him," Bieksa, 30, explained Monday in a quiet moment after the Canucks' practice. "He didn't want people worrying about him. He didn't want people to have to take care of him. He wanted to be the one taking care of people. That's the way he was. He was kind of the leader of his family, the one everyone leaned on.

"When he wasn't playing, I'd talk to him and he'd say: 'How's the team doing? How was last night's game?' I remember thinking: 'Who cares? There are bigger issues here.' "

Bieksa and Rypien met near the end of the 2004-05 lockout season when Bieksa was with the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose and Rypien was a quiet, scrawny kid fresh out of junior hockey in Regina.

"I thought he was just a fan or a young kid," Bieksa said. "I had no clue he was going to be playing for us. Then when he practised with us it was like: 'Oh, that's kind of nice. They're letting the young kid skate with the team.'

"There was no easy road for him to make it to the NHL. He came from a small town in the middle of nowhere. To get noticed, he had to do whatever it took. People respected that."

Bieksa and Rypien became friends.

While driving together to a workout before the Canucks' 2008 training camp, Rypien confided in Bieksa about his mental issues, his anxiety and worry.

A few months later, when Rypien disappeared during his first leave of absence from the team, Bieksa and Moose general manager Craig Heisinger, who was like a second father-figure to Rick, met in Edmonton after a Canuck game and drove to Rypien's home in southwestern Alberta.

"We went there looking for him," Bieksa said. "Didn't know what we'd find. We went to his house for four or five hours, just the two of us, hoping he'd come home and he finally did. That wasn't the best day for him. But we got him back and we got him help."

Bieksa never betrayed Rypien's trust, even to caring teammates who inquired about Rypien's well-being. The Canucks organization knew about Rypien's depression since that 2008 camp and coordinated the player's treatment.

Bieksa and his wife, Katie, helped as much as anyone.

While sitting out the rest of the 2008-09 regular season, Rypien stayed with the Bieksas.

"My wife stayed up to five in the morning talking to him every night," Kevin said. "We did what we could. . . just tried to get him through this. He loved hockey, loved coming to the rink. I remember him saying he just missed sitting in the dressing room and listening to guys chirping Hordy (ex-Canuck Darcy Hordichuk). Things like that. Those were the things he enjoyed, the camaraderie. He didn't like to be alone."

Bieksa said Rypien was with him when Kevin asked Wes Jr. to be his best man, and even knew before Kevin did that he was going to be a new dad again because the Canucks were on the road when Rick finally asked Katie why she kept throwing up.

"He knew before I did," Kevin smiled. Cole Bieksa is nearly four, and his little sister Reese is two.

When Rypien moved back into his own apartment, Kevin would stop by after games to talk and sometimes walked Reese down the block just to check up on Rick and see if his lights were on.

Bieksa is emphatic that Rypien loved his role in hockey and fighting had nothing to do with his mental challenges. He said Rypien's illness was too complicated to be explained by one event or circumstance, such as the car-accident death nearly a decade ago of Rypien's girlfriend or the constant stream of injuries that slowed his NHL career.

"There were a lot of things going on," Bieksa said. "I felt he was as much my responsibility as anybody's. Looking back now, I wished I'd talked to him a little more in the summer. I thought he was getting better. I knew the severity of it (but) I don't think anyone really thought this would happen."

Bieksa's emotional wounds will be torn open again Tuesday night, although he is thankful the Canucks are ensuring that at least some good comes from Rypien's death.

TSN is televising the game and the Canucks will livestream Rypien's ceremony on its website.

"He wouldn't like it," Bieksa said. "He wouldn't want to burden anybody. He would want more than anything for us to win. I'm trying not to think about it a whole lot. It will be hard. We lived together, shared a lot of experiences and it feels like I lost a brother."

Vancouver Sun

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Wow what a great guy Bieska is.

 

[germany00]

I was watching something about this, with that picture on sports center this mroning