Flames rally behind Chris Snow and his family

Rasmus Andersson will attest how Chris Snow worked to help him and everyone else on the Calgary Flames become better players

Jonathan Huberdeau couldn’t help but marvel how Snow, amidst the fight for his life, would send him text messages to keep his spirits up during his difficult first season in the Stampede City.

As for coach Ryan Huska, he became a convert to the value of analytics for his job, thanks to Snow’s skills that elevated him to becoming the club’s vice-president of data and analytics and assistant general manager.

Through it all, everybody involved with the Flames — hell, everybody in the hockey world — couldn’t help but be awestruck how Snow, his wife Kelsie and their children, Cohen and Willa, have bravely fought together in his battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

And now, the Snow family will continue to assist others, not only by tirelessly working to raise money but also in a manner that tops any assist a player can collect on the ice.

One day after Kelsie announced her husband had suffered a cardiac arrest which resulted in a catastrophic brain injury, she shared news arrangements were being made to donate his organs.

“Tests yesterday confirmed that Chris will not wake up. In life, Chris offered his body to a clinical trial to help others. In death he will do the same,” she posted on social media. “He remains on life support while organ donation is arranged. We are so proud of him.”

That pride extends throughout the Flames, as does the pain.

“You can tell that the mood is down,” Andersson said. “The way he’s been battling, he never complains. Every time you see him, he has a smile on his face.”

Snow was diagnosed with ALS in the summer of 2019 and doctors said he was expected to have only one year to live. Instead, for the past five years he has defied the odds while raising money for research and raising awareness.

In turn, a family friend has created a GoFundMe account to help the Snows.

On top of his efforts to improve the Flames as a team, Snow — and his family — have shown those within the organization what it truly means to be a fighter and how to embrace life.

“This guy put his heart into working for the team,” Huberdeau said. “Last year when it wasn’t going well, he was texting me. Every day he’s working for his life and would take the time to text me. That shows what he is as a person.”

“It’s really hard to see,” defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “We want to go out and play for him. It should motivate us to keep working hard and doing what we can for him and his family.”

“Chris Snow, he breathed Calgary Flames,” Andersson added. “He loved every second of it. He was a hell of a person, very family man and a hell of a father. You put that into perspective and it makes you think. We can definitely find that inspirational.”

Rest assured, Snow’s story will become a huge part of the team going forward.

“When you talk about people looking at him as an inspiration, I don’t know how you can’t,” Huska said. “Never did he have a bad day with the stuff he’s going through and continued to do his job to the best of his ability every day. It’s not an easy thing.”