Cody Church, left of the Shearwater Flyers shakes hands with Dexter Megeney of Stellarton after the Flyers captured the provincial Midget A hockey championship Sunday in New Glasgow. Church had the name of Megeney's son, Cpl. Kevin Megeney inscribed on th

A hockey player with the Shearwater Flyers has touched the lives of the Megeney family.
Cody Church wore the name of Cpl. Kevin Megeney during the provincial Midget C hockey championship the Flyers won Sunday in New Glasgow.
The Flyers are part of the Shearwater Shannon Minor Hockey Association (SSMHA), which is mainly made up of military dependents.
The association’s volunteers include serving and retired military personnel, who organize two hockey tournaments each year.
One is during March Break and the other is at Christmas time, the Veteran’s Memorial Tournament.
The Christmas tournament was renamed the Veteran’s tournament in 2005 during the year of the Veteran.
“We honour the veterans each year at a ceremony on Dec 30 during the tournament,” Flyers head coach and SSMHA president Herman Harris said.
This year, one of the association’s executive members who had just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan approached Harris about a program to honour people who gave their lives in the service of their country. This could be military family members who died during war or peace-time operations, or anyone such as a policeman or firefighter, he said.
The program was named Fallen Heroes and started out as one team and began to spread among teams like the Flyers who are affiliated with the recreation hockey program of the Dartmouth Whalers.
Name bars honouring the fallen heroes go on the bottom of the jerseys where competitive teams like the Flyers put sponsor bars.
Church was looking for a name bar and got the chance to honour someone from Pictou when the Flyers advanced to provincials in New Glasgow.
Harris’s sister-in-law Stacy MacLean told him about Karen and Dexter Megeney, who gave the Flyers permission to honour Kevin.
“After hearing the story from Stacy, I could think of no better person to wear Kevin’s name on his jersey than Cody,” Harris said.”I have been involved with many programs in my 30 years of military service, and I can honestly say that none are more emotional than when dealing with honouring young people who have been killed.
“My team is extremely proud to wear these name bars, as are all the young players who have been wearing them this year.