The Calgary Stampeders hosted their first practice last Tuesday, after the death of teammate Mylan Hicks.
“It is so wrong … you don’t know what to think and you don’t know how to act. Everyone is feeling this pain of why,” said Rob Cote, Calgary Stampeder and Cochranite.
"The hurt we're feeling in this locker room is very real and it's a drop in the bucket compared to what his family is feeling right now. That just sickens me."
Hicks, 23, who was originally from Detroit, was shot outside the Marquee nightclub in Calgary early Sunday morning.
Upon hearing the news, the former Cochrane Cobra tweeted out, “Life is so fragile. Going to hold my family tight today. All my love to the Hicks family.”
Calgary Police responded to reports of a shooting outside of the nightclub at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 25, where upon arrival officers found Hicks, who had been shot. He was transported to the hospital in life-threatening condition but later died from his injuries.
“The best thing that we can do right now is listen to ourselves and then try and put our best foot forward in Mylan’s name and that’s come out here and use football for what it could be for us and that’s a little bit of therapy sometimes,” Cote said.
“This is not something anyone is going to forget, this is a young man who should be here today.”
Three suspects were taken into custody at the time of the shooting.
Nelson Tony Lugela, 19, from Calgary, has been charged with second-degree murder, while the other two suspects were released from custody pending further investigation.
When asked if the Stampeders will be dedicating the season to Hicks, who never got the chance to play an official game this season, Cote responded “absolutely.”
“I don’t feel right saying anything has brought us closer, we are all just dealing with it the best that we can,” Cote said.
“This is not something you are using as motivation, it is something so real that you can’t plan, you can’t think about how you are feeling, you just have to go out there for your friends, your brothers, your teammates – we just have to be there for everybody.”
There is no telling how this tragedy might affect the Stamps’ who have only lost one game this season and have a commanding hold on first place in not only the division but the league as well.
“(We need) to go out there and try to do something great,” Cote said.
