Brown forward Kevin Pope died Thursday in his home town of Stittsville, Ont., by an apparent suicide.
With school on break and the Bears not playing again until the new year, Pope, 19, returned home from Providence. According to people close to the freshman, Pope was seen skating with his old junior team, the Kanata Valley Lasers, on Tuesday, Dec. 15, a tradition most of the college players follow when returning for Christmas holidays.
“Everyone was surprised [about it],” said Cory Murphy, a sophomore defenseman for Colgate who played with Pope on Kanata Valley. “He prided himself on hard work. It was a total shock. It sounds cliche, but he’s the last person in the world you’d think would do something like this.”
Pope, who played three games for Brown this season, was found dead just hours before Kanata Valley’s game last Thursday. Funeral services were held Monday, Dec. 21 and were attended by Brown coach Roger Grillo, according to the school.
