The University of Calgary is mourning the loss of a young basketball player who died in a canoeing accident in B.C. on Tuesday.
Andrew Milner, 19, was a U of C kinesiology student and guard on the Dinos men’s basketball team.
He had just wrapped up his second season with the Dinos when he took off on a canoe trip.
Cranbrook RCMP responded to Moyie Lake in southern B.C. on Tuesday at around 9 a.m. after a boat was found overturned. One man made it to shore but Milner remained missing.
A statement from RCMP said “extensive” shoreline patrols were completed by search and rescue crews and a police dog, which found items that belonged to the missing man.
The RCMP Underwater Recovery Team later found Milner’s body in the water.
“Our thoughts are with the family of the young male who died,” RCMP Cst. Katie Forgeron said in a statement. “It’s an unfortunate reminder of how nature can change in an instant and result in tragic consequences.”
The Dinos, meanwhile, will be providing grief counselling to students and will defer exams for those who need it.
University of Calgary athletic director Ben Matchette told Global News that Milner was a champion both on and off the court.
“The support that we’ve seen from other people really is a testament to the type of person he was,” Matchette said. “He was a friend to everybody. Not a single person had a bad thing to say about Andrew Milner. It’s just tragic.
“He’s certainly going to be missed by our entire community — but certainly by our men’s basketball team mostly.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Dinos said: “Andrew was an outstanding student and a national champion on the basketball floor, but most importantly he was a tremendous young man, and his loss will be felt deeply by all members of the Dinos community.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the Milner family and the community of Antigonish, N.S., and to everyone who knew Andrew.”
Moyie Lake is located about 25 kilometres south of Cranbrook, B.C., and about 400 kilometres southwest of Calgary, Alta.
WATCH (Nov. 1, 2018): Highlights of the game between the University of Calgary Dinos and the University of Alberta Golden Bears. The U of C Dinos said sophomore guard Andrew Milner had an outstanding night off the bench, contributing 20 points in 26 minutes.