TORONTO

— Terry Trafford's funeral on Tuesday, March 18, brought plenty of tears and memories to the people in places the former Saginaw Spirit player called home.

"I was Terry's teammate for four years and, when you're on the same hockey team with a person for four years, you get very close," Spirit player Justin Kea said. "He was always happy, always laughing. This doesn't make sense. I wish we knew what he was thinking."

Trafford, 20, died from what investigators are calling self-inflicted asphyxiation. He was found in his truck in the parking lot of a Saginaw Township Walmart on March 11.

Trafford's funeral and burial was Tuesday at the Ward Funeral Home in Toronto, not far from his home and school where one friend said, "We never had a bad day in the backyard of the Trafford's home."

Spirit owner Dick Garber and team president Craig Goslin attended, as did many of Trafford's teammates, including Kea, Cody Payne, Nick Moutrey, Jake Paterson, Jeremiah Addison, Brandon Prophet and Dylan Sadowy.

They raised their sticks to provide a canopy for Trafford's casket as pallbearers carried him out after the service.

"People tell me that things happen for a reason ... I'm still looking for that reason," Payne said. "One thing I know for sure is that when it's my time, it won't be so bad because Terry will be waiting for me with a big smile."

Payne and Trafford were teammates on the Mississauga midget team before they were drafted by the Ontario Hockey League; Payne by Oshawa and Trafford by Saginaw.

"When I found out during the summer that I might get traded to Saginaw, he was the first person I called," Payne said. "It was like old times. We were closer than ever. We could live our dream."

Trafford played 221 games with the Spirit, scoring 29 goals with 49 assists.

"He's the fastest kid I've ever skated with," Kea said. "He always knew how to make me laugh more. I laugh a lot, but he made me laugh even more. He always had pranks, and he had a way of framing someone else."

Some of the pranks that Kea could talk about included putting clear tape on skates, loosening the top of a water bottle or putting Icy Hot on the inside of a helmet.

"We have chapel services, all voluntary, and Terry would come to them," Rev. Chuck Jacobson said. "He was always happy, always laughing. That's why this doesn't make sense.

"This morning, I looked up a verse in Proverbs that said to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. That was a perfect verse because we don't understand why this happened. Only God and Terry know what he was thinking and what happened."

Jacobson rode to the funeral on the Saginaw Spirit bus.

"We are counseling them, and each day they seem to be getting better," Jacobson said of the team. "Hockey is a very close-knit family. They look out for each other. When someone falls, another person lifts them up.

"These players are doing that. Now they have to ask themselves what they can learn from this. What do we do now? How will we deal with this in the future? Maybe it's as simple as this. When someone asks how you're doing, you don't have to say, 'OK.'"

Friends, teammates and family gathered outside the funeral home after a hearse took Trafford away for burial. Few left, opting instead to exchange stories, hugs and plenty of tears before going home.

"At the midnight cry," Tuesday's soloist sang, "we'll be going home."