Kings retire #4 jersey honouring the late Ryan Grasdahl
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Photo Courtesy of Carter Lawrence
The Agra Risk Wheatland Kings have officially retired their number four following the passing of former captain, Ryan Grasdahl.
The jersey was raised to the rafters of the Strathmore Family Centre, Nov. 1, during a ceremony prior to the game against the High River Flyers.
“I think as many of our community know, former captain, former Wheatland King, Ryan Grasdahl suffered a traumatic injury while on vacation in the United States a couple months ago and tragically passed away in a Canadian hospital in Calgary,” said Wheatland Kings General Manager, Cody Holdaway. “The organization took it upon ourselves to retire Ryan’s number and raise it to the rafters … once a King, always a King – I think the players still think it is very meaningful to retire his number.”
Grasdahl played for the Kings from 2014 to 2018 before he aged out and moved on to other endeavors.
Holdaway added for a junior hockey team, having your number retired is a significant honour which does not often occur.
“In our franchise’s 15-year lifespan, only one other number has ever been retired and that’s Kristian Ayoungman, (#11) so when we retire a number, it’s pretty meaningful,” he said. “When we sat down as a board and ownership group after we heard the news, it was something that we kind of instantly knew that Ryan was a guy that fit the description of getting his number retired.”
During the ceremony, two former captains of the Kings were welcomed to the ice – Garret Vander Ploeg, and Chris Williams, both of whom played alongside Grasdahl. Williams co-captained the team for the 2016-17 season.
Grasdahl’s wife, Hailey was also welcomed to the ice to take part in a ceremonial puck drop before the start to the regularly scheduled league game.
Keaton Kish previously wore the #4 jersey last season. Holdaway explained during the off season, the board and ownership group planned to transition Kish to the #9 jersey in order to proceed with the retirement.
“We raised a banner in front of a sold-out crowd. There wasn’t much room left in the arena. We have kind of been advertising this over the past month. There were probably 50 to 60 of Ryan’s closest friends and family, his entire baseball team was there, lots of people who were important in Ryan’s life were able to attend,” said Holdaway. “It meant a lot because Saturday was Game 7 of the World Series (Toronto Blue Jays versus Los Angeles Dodgers), so to see that much support for Ryan really (hits the nail on the head) on why we retired his number.”
On the ice, the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings earned a split in their weekend games, beating Coaldale 4-3 on Oct. 31 before losing 6-4 to High River the following day.