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Ash enjoyed the outdoors and was musically talented. He talked about having a career in policing and had recently considered joining the military.

His father said that he excelled in school and achieved 97 per cent in his Grade 10 science class.

There were nearly 1,500 people at his funeral.

“I stereotyped him to not have any issues,” Lascelle said. “It seemed to me like he was the popular kid, he was athletic.

“We thought some of the things he was going through were just teenage things.”

Teammates wanted to keep the patch on their jerseys until 2021, when Ash would have moved on from midget hockey.

But the minor hockey association ordered the crests be removed at the end of this season and reaffirmed that stance at an April meeting.

The association’s board said that all jerseys need to be the same.

“If 10 kids would want it and 10 kids didn’t, you can’t have 10 that want it,” said Kyle Kellgren, president of the Battlefords Minor Hockey Association.

“There’s a possibility that kids don’t want it. There’s a parent that spoke against the patch at the meeting. It’s not all just one-sided.”

Kellgren said players are still permitted to put the crests on hockey pants, helmets and bags.

Lascelle attended the meeting and said that it felt orchestrated. People tried to ask questions about the crest, but they weren’t taken seriously, he said.

“Never provided any proof or substantial evidence that this was a negative thing for the crest on the jersey and they never provided anybody that they talked to in regards to this,” said Lascelle, who stayed up until 3 a.m. after the meeting to take crests off the jerseys.