Former NHL player's young widow pens inspiring memoir, thanks Barrie community for overwhelming support

The wife of a former NHL player who died suddenly in 2020 following a brain bleed has published a book about their love story and life after loss to help and inspire others dealing with grief.

Emily Cave and her husband, Colby Cave, a rising star with the Edmonton Oilers, were living in Barrie, Ont., three years ago during the pandemic.

The couple went to bed on April 6, 2020, and the following morning, Colby was rushed into emergency brain surgery after not waking up.

He was put into a medically-induced coma while surgeons removed a cyst on his brain.

Colby died just days later in the hospital. He was 25.

On her website, Emily says because of the pandemic, "Colb passed away alone in the ICU."

"I was in a state of shock. I think," Emily said in an interview with CTV News on Thursday. "He was fine on Monday …. Tuesday he was in brain surgery."

She said it took her a long time to process his sudden death.

"I didn't know how to react. I was 26, and he was just fine, and then he was gone," Emily said.

Her memoir, For Colb: The Vow Beyond 'Till Death Do Us Part', offers a poignant and powerful account of becoming a widow at 26, less than nine months after saying, "I do.”

Emily Cave holds her memoir, 'For Colb: The Vow Beyond 'Till Death Do Us Part.' (Pictured in Edmonton on Thurs., June 15, 2023 - CTV News Edmonton)

"I was a widow before my first-year wedding anniversary," she said. "When you think of a widow, you think of older people, and I never imagined it would be me."

Emily said she found peace and gratitude surrounded by a supportive community.

"Barrie was awesome. They showed up in many ways. All flower shops ran out of flowers after Colby passed away," she recalled.

Through the book, Emily paints a vivid picture of a couple filled with laughter, support and shared dreams. She also dives into the raw emotion of shock, disbelief and overwhelming pain following Colby's death.

"You are never healed from grief. You never move on. You just move forward," Emily noted.

Sharing how introspection, therapy and support helped her through sleepless nights and tearful days, Emily encourages others navigating similar pain to find resilience.

"I really wanted to write something like raw and vulnerable that people can read and know that they're not alone in their grief, they're not alone, especially to those that lose during the global pandemic."

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Colby Cave is pictured following his first NHL goal in 2018. (Source: Instagram)

Over the past three years, she said she learned two very crucial things.

"Not to take any moment for granted," she said, adding you never think the unthinkable will happen to you, and "Learning that joy and grief can coexist. You can be hopeful for the future but also be sad about the past."

Emily has since met someone new, saying she believes Colby helped her find love again.

"I love them both. They're both different in their own ways, but I always say Colb carried the torch and loved me so well, and then he passed the torch to Colin, and Colin's finishing it, and Colb would be really grateful for Colin," she concluded.

The Cave family and Edmonton Oilers launched a memorial fund in honour of Colby to benefit youth mental health programs and make hockey accessible to underprivileged children.