The sports world is in mourning today after 35-year-old hockey star Ray Emery died of an apparent drowning over the weekend.
Emery was with friends in Hamilton Harbour in Ontario, Canada on Saturday when he dove into the water and failed to resurface. Police were called just after 6 a.m. and his body was recovered at around 2:50 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
The former NHL goalkeeper was remembered by his former teams, the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks, as well as his ex-fiancée, singer Keshia Chanté, who said Emery’s unexpected death left her “completely broken.”
“My heart is heavy. i am at a loss. distraught. Obliterated,” Chanté wrote on Instagram. Despite calling off their engagement in 2017 amid allegations of domestic abuse, the former “106 and Park” host called Emery the love of her life.
“U loved me with every fibre of ur being even though it overwhelmed me at times. U took care of me, protected me,” she said. “So incredibly passionate, loving & affectionate. My cuddle bear. That smile.. the way u looked at me. U always made sure I knew how much u loved me. Even at the very end.”
Emery led the Ottawa Senators hockey team to the Stanley Cup finals in 2007 and won a championship with the Blackhawks in 2013. His teammates also talked up his leadership and the Blackhawks called him a “fierce competitor.”
Chanté also noted Emery’s good qualities.
“Intelligent, hilarious, entertaining, giving, charismatic, a leader, family-oriented, a fierce competitor, good hearted, determined. U always amazed me,” she wrote, noting Emery also struggled with “demons” that finally forced her to walk away.
Still, she said she loved Emery deeply and will always cherish the times they had together.
“U taught me so much. U gave me all of u & I’m so grateful to have had u in my life,” she said.
“No one knew u the way I did & it was an honor that u let me in that way. It was an honor that u asked me to marry u,” she added. “We were inseparable, attached, a bond so rare. My heart is completely broken.”