Petition urges league to reverse ban on memorial patch for player

More than 1,600 people have signed a petition asking the Battlefords Minor Hockey Association in Saskatchewan to overturn a decision that bans a team from wearing a patch on their jerseys dedicated to a dead player.

Konnor Snyder designed the crest to honour Ash Lascelle, a player with the Battlefords Barons who died earlier this year at the age of 15.

Snyder says stickers he initially had made were so popular at school that he decided to order patches with the crest so that he and his teammates could sew them onto their Barons jerseys.

The plan was to wear them until 2021 when Snyder and Lascelle would have moved on from midget hockey, but the association decided at an emergency meeting that it wouldn’t allow Snyder and his teammates to wear the patch in future seasons. The organization says their bylaws call for prior approval of such items.

Ash’s parents, Neil and Michelle Lascelle, are among those who disagree with the board.

Snyder said he wanted something to remember his buddy, so he and his mother used a computer to create a design which they sent to a sticker company. The crest says “In loving memory Ash, 2002-2018.”

Jenni Wuttunee, president of the minor hockey association, said the organization’s bylaws are clear that prior approval should have been obtained and that the board felt future players “should not be made to wear them.”

She also said players who have them now are welcome to take them off at the end of season and transfer them to a jacket or another item of clothing.

Neil Lascelle said his son touched people in “every corner” of Saskatchewan.

Michelle Lascelle said her son “was all about his friends, no matter what.”

“This (decision) is absolutely wrong,” she added. “Minor hockey is supposed to be about the kids.”