Rylee Sears memorial hockey game to be played Sunday

A memorial hockey game honouring Rylee Sears, the 16-year-old Lower Sackville teen who died earlier this week of meningitis, will be held Sunday evening.

Sears died in hospital on Monday and his death shook the entire community.

“He was a person who made choices daily to be a good person to his family, to be a good friend and to be someone for our entire community to look up to," said Jeff O’Flaherty, the president of the Sackville Minor Hockey Association.

The memorial game is raising money to help the Sears family pay for funeral expenses. By late Friday afternoon, the $5,000 goal was almost reached. Donations will also be accepted at the rink on Sunday.

The Sears family has also requested donations for a different cause.

"They also took it upon themselves to set up a fund for underprivileged kids and kids in need and that's pretty amazing for them to think about that at this time. It says a lot about them, and we felt it was important for us to help them in any way that we can," said O’Flaherty.

It's expected a few thousand people will cram into the Sackville Arena for the memorial game between Sears’ team, the Midget “B” Sackville Flyers and the Midget “A” Sackville Flyers.

A visitation for Sears is taking place this evening and on Saturday. The memorial service will happen on Tuesday.