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'Always a Wolverine at heart': Whitecourt mourns hockey club's biggest fan

In a northern Alberta hockey town, Curtis Gregory was known as a central part of the local Junior A club.

He wasn't a player. He wasn't the parent of a player. And he wasn't a coach. But, to many, he was part of the fabric of the Whitecourt Wolverines, a fan who came to watch every game — and practices, too.

Gregory died Dec. 5 when, according to a Facebook post by his brother, he slipped on ice while walking home from a grocery store in the town 180 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

His head struck the pavement and he died soon afterward, his brother said.

Gregory, who was 44, was not married and had no children.

Word of his death — and memories of his devotion to the Wolverines — spread quickly through the town of 10,000, where Junior A hockey is one of the best entertainment tickets around.

Curtis became part of the team by just being so in love with the game. - Stacy Crossland

Brent Stark, who owns the Wolverines, grew up playing hockey with Gregory, whose nickname was "Egger."

"To know Curtis and to be a friend of Curtis, you would have been a very lucky person," Stark said. "He was an easygoing guy, somebody who always had a laugh or joke or something to surprise you."

An equipment operator by trade, Gregory usually arrived a couple of hours early for Wolverines home games at the Scott Safety Centre. He'd have some food in the lounge and talk hockey with people from the club.

He'd be wearing a hockey jersey — he owned dozens, from minor league teams to the pros — and when the puck hit the ice, he'd stand at the rail on the visitor's side to watch.

"Hockey was in Curtis's blood. If there was a hockey game, even in midget or bantam, it wouldn't be odd to walk in and see Curtis there as well," Stark said.

Supplied/Andrew Peard
Supplied/Andrew Peard

Gregory is the third member of the Wolverines family to die in the past two years. In 2016, Stark's stepsons, Ryder and Radek, were killed by their biological father in Spruce Grove. The next Wolverines home game on Dec. 15 will be a memorial game in honour of the boys — and now Gregory will be remembered in a moment of silence, too. The club is also planning another event to remember Gregory later this month.

Andrew Peard arrived in Whitecourt to work as the play-by-play announcer almost five years ago.

"Curtis was such a big fan, so he made quick friends with me whether I wanted to be friends or not," Peard said, laughing.

He remembered Gregory coming up to him at a training camp and introducing himself.

"He'd sit with me, we'd watch training camp and he'd say, 'Look at that player, I really think he's got a chance to make the team.' I really valued his opinion ... I was always curious to know who he thought was playing well."

Gregory's deep love of hockey and his respect for the teenagers who were working so hard struck many in Whitecourt.

"Curtis became part of the team by just being so in love with the game. He was always a Wolverine at heart and always a friend," Stacy Crossland wrote on Facebook, shortly after Gregory's death.

"I know that he is with the [Humboldt] Broncos and is checking on Ryder and Radek telling them to look after their mom because that's the kind of person he was. Always looking out for everyone else."

A GoFundMe page set up in Gregory's memory aims to raise $2,000 for Whitecourt's hockey community.