Edmonton Oilers prospect Cooper Marody has written a song in memory of teammate Colby Cave to raise money for a memorial fund.
Cave, from Battleford, Sask., died April 11 in a Toronto hospital after suffering a brain bleed.
Marody's song "Agape" will be released Friday on Apple Music and Spotify. Marody, from Brighton, Mich., and Cave were Bakersfield Condors teammates last season.
Proceeds go to the Colby Cave Memorial Fund established by the Oilers. The money will be directed towards mental health programs and providing access to sport for underprivileged children.
Cave's wife Emily asked Marody if he would write a song and provided video of their wedding vows.
"It's the most important song I've written in my entire life," Marody said Thursday on a conference call. "I hope it can continue to give Emily comfort and peace and it can help other people who are mourning."
The 23-year-old old centre said he wrote the song quickly in Nashville while collaborating with Kyle Thomas and Gavis Garris.
"I genuinely feel that day in that room that this was Colby writing through us, singing through us and this was his message, his love letter, his love song to Emily," Marody said.
Emily said "agape" was a word she and her late husband said to each other often.
"Agape is the highest form of love," she said in a statement released by the Oilers. "Selfless, sacrificial and unconditional love; it persists no matter the circumstance. I'm so grateful I got to experience this love with my best friend."
Cave played 67 career NHL games for the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers. The centre was called up for 11 games by the Oilers last season.
He died while in a medically-induced coma following surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain.
The COVID-19 virus kept Emily from her husband's bedside.
"Colb and I started three hand squeezes very early in our relationship," she said in the statement. "He would squeeze my hand in car, I would squeeze his in the grocery store, we would do it anywhere and everywhere. We did this for years.
"The four days Colb was in the hospital, I wasn't allowed to be with him. I got to FaceTime him twice for a few moments. I would beg him to wake up and tell him how much I loved him. I would then ask the nurse to squeeze his hands three times so he felt I was there.
"I wasn't physically there when Colb went to heaven, but I pray through the nurse squeezing his hand like we had always done, he felt me right there beside him."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2020.
The Canadian Press
