CREDIT: OHL IMAGES
Terry Trafford’s death may spark change in junior hockey.

The Terry Trafford saga came to a tragic end earlier this month. His body was found in his pickup truck in the afternoon of March 11.

His green GMC Sierra was found in the parking lot of a Walmart in Saginaw Township, about 140 kilometres northwest of Detroit. Hours after the discovery, the body inside the truck was identified.

On Highway 675, a spotlight highlights the lone hockey player pictured on a billboard; the number 16 visible on his jersey. Emblazoned, on the billboard the words “Terry Trafford, 1994- 2014”

It'll serve as a reminder to the people of Saginaw, and the Ontario Hockey League, that they lost a friend, brother and teammate. But this tragic story brings to light the pressures facing junior hockey players. They're small town celebrities, but they're only teenagers. They've got a shot at fame and fortune.

But like everyone else, they face the trials and tribulations of growing up.

Family and friends aren't as accessible as before. Their life is engulfed by hockey — coaches, scouts and media — all of whom define the individual based on his hockey prowess.

Terry Trafford's tragic story will serve as a wake-up call to the junior hockey world, reminding officials that more needs to be done to support players off the ice. It's easy to point fingers and lay blame on the league that they don't do enough for the players off the ice.

“There's nowhere to turn to because it's a team thing,” Terry's father Roy Trafford said to City News. “What happens in Saginaw stays in Saginaw. We'll handle it.' Well they didn't handle this one.”

OHL Commissioner David Branch would not comment on specifics of the case until an investigation is complete, but he did say that a support system is in place.

“This is a matter under police investigation,” he added, saying that neither the team nor the league were aware of any mental health issues. “We respect that and there's going to be a lot of information that will inevitably come forward.”

Hockey players are supposed to be tough. And therein lies the problem.

Depression might be seen as a sign of weakness by some within the world of hockey, and that may have kept Trafford from seeking help, according to his former teammate Gregg Sutch.

“I feel that may have been an issue with Terry, that he wasn't able to say anything,” Sutch told the Toronto Sun. “And when [the pressure] gets too overwhelming, you don't want to speak out, because if you say something ... people are going to look at you like you're not really a hockey player — that you're not a man.”

Since last September, Trafford began living with Saginaw Spirit President Craig Goslin and his family. The only thing that wasn't going great in his life was hockey.

“We recognized that he was making some decisions that weren't great decisions and we moved him into an environment where we could mentor him,” Goslin said.

In early March, Trafford was sent home to Toronto for a “rules violation.”

“Our intentions were, more than likely, not to bring him back this year,” added Goslin, saying that Trafford was told he'd have a spot on the Spirit or another OHL team, if he corrected his behaviour.

“Nobody had any indication that there was anything that would end in this result.”

Trafford was last seen alive leaving on March 3 at the Dow Event Center, the home of the Spirit.

Police say he died of self-inflicted asphyxiation. He was missing for just over a week.

Just days after Terry Trafford's body was found, his teammates paid tribute to his memory before a game in Sault Ste. Marie.

“I'm very proud of the players for what they've been through,” Saginaw coach Greg Gilbert told the Canadian Press after the game.

“What they've been through is something nobody should ever go through. It's unfortunate that things like this happen but they battled through it and competed hard and I'm very proud of them.”

There's hope that Trafford's death will help change junior hockey for the better.

It has to.

If not then the game of hockey and those running it will have let him down.

“This isn't like a criminal thing where he's been murdered,” said Roy Trafford in a Toronto Sun interview. “It's not like that. He drove to Walmart. He shut down his phones. He did what he did.

“I'll never know why.”