A Port Moody hockey player has lost his battle with brain cancer.
Wade MacLeod died Sunday, Sept. 13. He was 38 years old.
In a post on social media, Karly MacLeod said her husband died “in a room filled with love, surrounded by family.”
Wade MacLeod first fell ill in 2013 after collapsing while playing his second pro season for the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League.
Golf ball sized tumour
Doctors subsequently removed a non-cancerous tumour the size of a golf ball from the left side of his brain.
After months of extensive physical and speech therapy, MacLeod was able to resume his playing career with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and several ECHL teams.
MacLeod, who played his minor hockey in Port Moody as well as the Coquitlam U18 Chiefs and Port Coquitlam Buckaroos before scoring 146 points in 101 games for the Merritt Centennials in the BC Hockey League, then headed to Germany.
Coming off a 61-point season for the second division Rosenheim Star Bulls, MacLeod collapsed again while preparing to return for another season in Germany.
This time doctors diagnosed a cancerous glioblastoma.
MacLeod worked to get back on the ice. In the spring of 2016 he signed with the Allen Americans. He scored 13 points in 13 games, good enough to secure a contract for the following season with Lowen Frankfurt.
MacLeod played 49 games plus another seven in the playoffs for the Lions. He scored 49 points.
Another setback
But in September, 2018, MacLeod was felled again.
Doctors removed a Grade 3 glioblastoma tumour and prescribed several rounds of chemotherapy.
The setback cost MacLeod three seasons of hockey. But it didn’t diminish his desire to play again.
“I said from the very beginning that cancer wasn’t going to be the reason I retire from professional hockey,” MacLeod said.
Working out with trainer Kai Heinonen and skating at Coquitlam’s Planet Ice with veteran NHLer Brad Hunt helped MacLeod get back into what he called the best shape of his life. In September, 2021, he and his family — that now included two young daughters — packed up for Manchester, England to play for the Storm of Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League.
Port Moody’s Wade MacLeod worked his way back into shape after a third setback from brain cancer.
‘Never give up on your dreams’
“The biggest thing is never give up on your dreams and always stay positive,” MacLeod said.
But after scoring just one point in seven games in Manchester, MacLeod signed with Narvik Eagles in Norway.
In June, 2023, MacLeod announced his hockey career had come to an end.
“I gave all my life to hockey and now it is time to turn the page,” he wrote on Facebook.
Months later, MacLeod underwent a fifth brain surgery. Doctors upgraded his glioblastoma to Grade 4 — the most serious and aggressive form of the disease.
Working with a medical team at Port Moody Integrated Health, MacLeod pursued alternate treatments like hyperthermia, drug and dietary therapy, as well as radiation.
“He was our warrior,” Karly MacLeod said. “Despite any obstacle he had to overcome, he faced it head-on with so much determination and never stopped smiling along the way.”
Indelible mark
MacLeod also left an indelible mark along his hockey journey.
The Manchester Storm posted a message about MacLeod’s passing on social media, “He was a true warrior, and his spirit will forever be a part of the Storm family.”
“We are heartbroken,” said Loewen Frankfurt.
In a statement on its website, the ECHL said, “its member teams mourn the loss and express their condolences to the family and friends of former ECHL player Wade MacLeod.”
The Northeastern University Huskies, where MacLeod scored 137 points in four seasons, said he “left a lasting mark on the program both on and off the ice.”
MARIO BARTEL 
So sorry , to hear .Condolences to his family . He was SOO great to watch when he played at NU . My brother , who had a glioblastoma , was an NU grad . I always cheer for the fighters. This disease takes the best , and takes a toll on the families . So sad.
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