I follow Emily on Instagram she is just so lost without him. I really feel for her. I couldn't imagine losing someone that close to me during regular times, but how she had to deal with so much of this alone and not by Colby must just make it so much worse.
The ESPN story that @bellagiobob posted is the first story on the front page of ESPN today. ESPN: Serving sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere.
David Backes deserves credit for being a good person. You may have hated him as a player (kind of like Kesler), but off the ice he seems like a great guy (unlike Kesler). I always despised Duncan Keith for mocking Backes as he lay on the ice with a head injury after a dirty hit. On a personal note, I was editing player rosters in NHL 20 last night and happened to scroll across Colby Cave's name. Seems like a small inconsequential thing, and I wouldn't have expected it to hit me, but it actually hit me pretty hard right at that moment. The combination of his name and his picture (of him smiling) in the game coming up on the screen was a gut punch.
I never hated Backes, I just thought the guy was a f***ing idiot for trying to turn into a tough guy after how many concussions.
Well that was always his game, and it's hard to change your game style 2/3 of the way through your career. You can make an argument he should have just retired earlier due to those concussions, but it's hard to grasp everything involved with that kind of decision unless you're the one who has to actually make it.
This is a wonderful read and a bit of a tearjerker. It sounds like he really tried to be a positive influence wherever he went and people really appreciated him for it.