Some heavy events today, huh?
This is a site for hockey, which is purely entertainment -- a diversion from the things in life that "really matter." So there's never an easy way to handle when those things that truly matter knock the legs out from under our daily pursuit of frivolity.
Tyler Pyatt was just a pup as an Islander and didn't spend long on the Island -- in fact, many would suggest he was lucky to get out through one of Milbury's tomorrow-for-now trades after just one season. But he was an Islander once and he's a member of that brigade of the world's elite players who provide us with such fun. Only right to send some universal energy his way now. So thoughts and condolences for Mr. Pyatt after the loss of his fiancee.
I simply cannot imagine. Having lived through the frenetic excitement of young love, and come out the other side to discover there is nothing more brilliantly lucky than finding the right partner to ride shotgun through life's bizarre journey, I shake at the thought.
To carry on professionally, at this time of the season, after such a loss? Not a chance. I'd be a mess. It would break me. But hockey teams are close crews. Fans can assume he'll have a good support network to try to carry him through this. The "this will motivate him" columns are already coming out.
As always, feel free to leave your thoughts here. But for the exercise in collective comfort that moves humans in times like these, you might head to Nucks Misconduct, where they'll be adding links and thinking of him and a young woman's family.
And I remember laughing
So much we cried
You knew my every thought, there was
Nothing I could hide
We celebrated moons, we
Marveled at the night sky
With flute and drum and pen we were
Grateful for our lives
--Killing Joke, "Absent Friends"