Four Mounties from Mayerthorpe gunned down by cop-hater James Roszko will be remembered in a hockey game involving the community’s old-timers team inside the home of the Edmonton Oilers.
The annual charity game between the Mayerthorpe Wranglers and an RCMP squad was moved to Rexall Place after the town’s arena was ravaged by a blaze last summer.
Northlands says it has agreed to host the game with the Edmonton Oilers on March 1 in an effort to get hockey fans to remember those officers “who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.”
“They all understand the significance of this memorial game to everybody involved with the tragedy,” said Margaret Thibault, a spokeswoman for the Fallen Four Memorial Society.
Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish will be participating in the game and Paul Lorieau will be singing the national anthem, along with students from the Mayerthorpe Elementary School.
Five memorial candles will be lit in a pre-game ceremony to remember the fallen four officers, with the fifth candle commemorating peace officers who have been killed in the line of duty.
Roszko took his own life after a gunfight with police at his Quonset hut where the four fallen officers were on guard — constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston and Brock Myrol.
Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman, who admitted to helping Roszko with the killing, were sentenced Friday to 15 years and 12 years in prison, respectively.
