The number 10 on a Blenheim Blades jersey will forevermore belong to former captain Craig Spence.
The team held a special ceremony on Saturday before their Alumni Games to honour Spence, who died at the age of 22 in a crash on the Highway 401 south of London in April.
In addition to retiring Spence's number, the team wore special black jerseys for the weekend and inducted him into the Blenheim Blades Hall of Fame.
Craig Spence's brother, Grant, told CK Mornings with Chris, Allanah & Matt on 94.3 CKSY that the whole ceremony meant a lot to him and the Spence family.
"They retired number 10, so no one will ever wear number 10 again in a Blenheim Blades uniform, which is unbelievable," said Grant. "It's an honour and I couldn't thank Blenheim enough."
Another part of Craig's lasting legacy is the "Craig Spence Foundation," which Grant set up after donations started pouring in for the family via a GoFundMe page that was started by a family friend.
"I started the foundation for two main reasons: One -- to keep my brother's name relevant in this town," said Grant. "And two -- to give kids the opportunity that I have had, and my siblings have had... we got to play any sports that we wanted and never had any issue with money, so it's giving the opportunity to other kids in the community that I had."
Spence said the Craig Spence Foundation will be sponsoring some free power skating sessions on December 23 and 27 at Memorial Arena in Chatham for four different age groups from 6-12 years old. The signup includes participation on both days and is limited to 50 skaters per age group.
Anyone interested will be able to start registering on December 1 at 12 p.m. via the Craig Spence Foundation on Instagram. You can find that link by clicking here.
Grant said their goal is to get about 200 kids on the ice in the 2-hour time slot for the power skating event. He said they are also in the process of setting up a website and applying for the Craig Spence Foundation to be a registered charity.