Colby Cave to be honoured with celebration of life at Rogers Place

A celebration of life will be held Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton to honour the life of Colby Cave, the former Edmonton Oilers forward who died suddenly last April.

The virtual ceremony hosted by Emily Cave, the Cave family, the Gill family and the Oilers organization is to begin at 11 a.m.

Emily Cave, Colby’s widow, is having a tough time believing her husband died nearly a year ago from a brain bleed at 25 years old.

“It feels like it was yesterday, but at the same time it feels like it was years ago,” she said in an interview with Gormley this week.

“(I’m) just kind of reliving all those firsts again.”

Colby Cave, a product of North Battleford, played five seasons in the Western Hockey League for the Swift Current Broncos — with whom he served as captain — before joining the Boston Bruins in the 2014-15 NHL season.

The Oilers then claimed him off waivers in January 2019.

Emily is grateful for the opportunity to be able to grieve with family and friends a year after Colby’s death.

“Obviously, I would love to have an in-person (celebration of life), but with the world the way it is right now, we don’t know when that time would eventually even come,” she said.

Two days after Cave’s death, hundreds of vehicles lined Highway 16 outside of North Battleford to send messages of support and condolences as a procession of first responders and Cave family members passed by.

With COVID-19 restrictions preventing any ability for the community to gather, Emily is hoping the virtual ceremony will help the grieving process.

“It was kind of my way of bringing everyone together on Colby’s one-year mark the best way that we could to honour him and give him the celebration of life he deserves,” Emily said.

The Edmonton Oilers 2nd Shift, which provides opportunities for youth to participate in hockey, will be renamed Colby’s Kids to honour Cave.

In addition to that gesture, the Oilers also launched the Colby Cave Memorial Fund, which Emily has been assisting with over the past year.

Proceeds go toward community programs emphasizing mental-health initiatives.

“What we’ve done and established with Colby’s Kids … and working with CASA (Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health) on their mental-health initiative programs is something Colb would be so happy about and so proud about,” she said.

“I’m really grateful for the Oilers helping me continue Colb’s legacy and remind me that he’ll never be forgotten.”