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When Kelly Hrudey first heard about David McQueen, he knew he had to meet him.

The former NHL goalie and hockey broadcaster was touched to read in a newspaper article about the Calgary father who was paralyzed in a diving accident at Sikome Lake in 1994 and started selling flowers downtown to support his children.

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“I went down there to visit anonymously. I didn’t tell him who I am or what I do or anything. I just sat there and chatted with him,” Hrudey said. “He had a great sense of humour, he loved to laugh, he was engaging.”

From those early conversations, a years-long friendship blossomed, with the two men often sitting down for lunch or coffee and long chats.

So when Hrudey learned McQueen, 53, was killed in an armed standoff with police Sunday evening, he was crushed.

McQueen was fatally shot by police after firing multiple rounds from his Huntington Hills home, hitting a Calgary Transit bus and narrowly missing the driver.