Utah Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny announced to the media today that captain Clayton Keller’s father Bryan Keller passed away unexpectedly in his sleep last night.
Keller will play today for the Mammoth’s game against the Dallas Stars, but will presumably travel home to Illinois to be with his family after tonight’s game.
“Clayton wants to play, wants to be with the team,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said today. “We want to say our condolences to all the family, Clayton, his mom, his brother. It’s a tough time for the family. We’ll support him by any way we can. … Clayton will play tonight, but all the organization is with him with all our heart. He’s been nothing but an unbelievable teammate and his family is unbelievable. We’re all with him.”
You may recall that Keller’s father Bryan made headlines a couple years ago when he personally called out the Arizona Coyotes and said that his son would not be joining the team if they couldn’t get their arena situation sorted out.
After Tempe voters turned down the team’s bid for an arena in the city, Bryan Keller took to Twitter to say, “Keller will not be there at the beginning of the season and expect others to follow or not sign. Team will be moved, there are no other options and Phoenix will regret losing a professional sports team. City just got diluted from a perception standpoint. Privately financed too.”
While Bryan later took back his strong words, it’s interesting to look back on over two years later with the reflection that he was essentially right about everything. Keller did report to the team though, but it would be his and the team’s final year in Arizona. They’d pack up for Salt Lake City, Utah just over a year after Bryan’s prognostication.
In any case, RIP Bryan Keller. Thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Keller family.
