This is the story of a guy named Rosie.

Every time Roup Sall laces up his skates, he can't help but see the infectious grin of former hockey buddy Ranbir "Rosie" Singh Rosode. The gregarious Rosode, Rosie to his many friends, died suddenly from a massive heart attack during the warm-up for a Duffers' League hockey game at a North Vancouver arena on Nov. 18, 2000. 

It's a day etched on Rosie's memorial marker and on Sall's mind.  The longtime teammates were embarking on their usual Sunday routine: They'd play in one rec league game for the Hurricanes at 6 p.m., hop into the car and drive to nearby 8-Rinks for a second game with the Surrey Devils at 8:45 p.m. Only this Sunday night, things went horribly awry.

"We got out on the ice and Rosie made some joke to me and skated about 10 feet and just collapsed," Sall recalled, his voice quaking with emotion.

"I got to him within five seconds and he was breathing funny and he was out[unconscious]. I started mouth-to-mouth and one of the guys on the team was a doctor [Dr. Mike Look] and he started CPR." Look initially thought Rosie had had a seizure. When no pulse was found, an ambulance was called. But even a defibrillator couldn't  revive him. "They tried to shock him and get his pulse but he didn't respond at all," said Look, a family practitioner in Burnaby. "I kind of knew from the start he wasn't going to make it, but we did all we could." 

"I've never seen more of an eerie scene," Sall, 37, said of the arena. "The whole place came to a dead stop -- you could have heard a pin drop in theere." 

Rosie, a devoted husband and father of three young children -- Jordan, 8, Jared, 6, and four-month-old daughter Janelle, whom he adored -- died of a massive coronary at just 34. It was almost two years to the day since his older brother Bahadur succumbed to heart problems at the same age while playing floor hockey. 

An autopsy revealed Rosie had an almost total arterial blockage, although he had no outward symptoms and never complained of chest pains to his wife, Surjit. An excess of lipids and cholesterol in his blood likely caused the build-up.  Rosie's death sent shock waves through B.C.'s hockey community. He was young and fit, yet died playing the sport he loved.

At 5-feet-10 and a solid 205 pounds, Rosie cut an intimidating figure with his shaved head and a goatee bordering a ready smile. He  was a physical defenceman who possessed a flair for the offensive side of the game.  Knowing his family history of heart problems, Rosie watched his weight and diet, didn't smoke, drank moderately, worked out in a gym regularly and played hockey three or four times a week.

"Here was a guy who took care of himself and still died far too soon," said Sall, a pharmaceutical sales rep. "Where it really touched people is the fact you take it -- playing -- for granted every time you play until it's gone." 

To honour their fallen buddy, Sall, Bert Deol and Rosie's other hockey pals decided to keep his memory alive and raise awareness of the health dangers posed by heart attacks by organizing an annual tournament in his name.

Last year's inaugural Ranbir Rosode Memorial Tournament drew eight teams and raised $1,000. This year, 10 teams and about 150 players will battle it out Rosie-style (minus the occasional elbow) at 8-Rinks.

"The neat thing is most of the guys in the tournament were friends of Rosie or played with him," said Surjit, a nurse at Surrey Memorial. "It's nice to be able to keep his memory alive because Janelle was so young when he died. "It keeps us occupied, too." 

Born in Duggan, India, into a Sikh family, Rosie emigrated to Canada with his folks. They settled in Clearwater, where his dad worked at the local mill and young Rosie excelled at North American sports like his two older brothers. But it wasn't always easy.  "He played road hockey, but his very first game on ice was when he was in bantam and he came back from the game with his arm in a sling because he broke his collarbone," said childhood friend Steve Miller, 35, who'll be playing this weekend. "He could barely skate but he was determined to come back."  And come back he did. Rosie became a better-than-average puck player in the face of racism from kids in the community, was voted high school president and also excelled at kadadi, an Indo-Canadian game best described as a mix between Red Rover and wrestling.

"He was the go-to guy in all the sports," Miller said. "He was quite the competitor, played hard, hated to lose and always had fun.  "Everybody wanted to be with him and feed off his energy."  Both on and off the ice, he was fiercely proud of his two cultures. Despite choosing not to wear a traditional turban, he sported a large tattoo of a Sikh khanda (sword) on his left shoulder and he loved bhangra, a fusion of hip hop and East Indian traditional music.

Initially playing on opposing teams, Rosie was drawn to the Devils in 1994 with its large number of Indo-Canadian players. The team became something of a springboard for men from that community who found it hard to break into league hockey on other teams.

"Over the last five years, the amount of adults we have started off playing hockey have started three or four other teams," Sall said.   "And Rosie was the heart of our team."

And Rosie led by example, especially when dealing with occasional racist taunts from opposing players. The insults seemed only to strengthen further his resolve to score goals.

Despite being slowed by a serious hockey injury to his ankle (which required metal pins and having his ankle joint permanently fused)  and a broken nose courtesy of a cross-check, warehouse worker Rosie still loved to get out to the rink until the day he died.

"It was just a sport he loved," Sall said simply.

Surjit, 30, added with a soft chuckle: "He missed a lot of family  functions due to hockey. At least he made the births of our kids. I wasn't sure there for a while."

Look said Rosie even foreshadowed his own passing after his brother's death.

"He was leaving my office [after being treated for a fractured nose] and he said: "I really need to come back and make an appointment for my heart,'" Look, 40, said. "But he didn't get around to coming back. I don't think anyone was expecting him to die when he was 34."

Nearly 1,000 people attended Rosie's emotional memorial service. Fittingly, his body was cremated according to the Sikh faith but with a Canadian twist -- his beloved No. 88 and No. 19 Devils jerseys were cremated with him. His ashes were taken back to India and sprinkled in a river.

"It was the biggest funeral I've ever seen," Sall said. "He was a big [Eric] Lindros [No. 88] fan and then he became more of a Stevie Yzerman [No. 19] fan so we sent his jerseys with him."

Added Miller: "I still miss him. [Thursday] was his birthday and it was a tough night for me.  "I still have his picture on my fridge."

Surjit said she and the kids still have bad days but they're happening less often.  "Janelle was so young, she has no idea. She calls my brother-in-law, 'Dad,'" she said. "Jared is seven and autistic so I'm not sure if he's fully aware. Jordan -- it hit him the hardest  -- his first question was: 'Who will coach my soccer team?' You know how kids are."

"But my in-laws have been really excellent. They've done everything they can to take his place. But you can't take his place -- he was my husband."  Jordan, who enjoys floor hockey but is afraid to play on the ice where his dad died, dropped the puck for yesterday's ceremonial faceoff.

For next year's tourney, organizers hope to add a youth division with an all-star team of kids from the Indo-Canadian community.

Maybe there's another Rosie out there somewhere.

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Although relatively fit, Rosie Rosode died in a hockey rink at age 34 because he had a genetic predisposition to heart attack.

But the recreational "weekend warrior" who gets no exercise other than the occasional shinny game runs a significant risk of over-exertion and heart strain.

A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal  says that men who don't get regular exercise can put a dangerous strain on their hearts playing hockey because the short, intense bursts of action can trigger heart attacks or palpitations and agitate angina.

Dr. Sanita Atwal, a military doctor, conducted the study by equipping 113 Cape Breton men with heart monitors. All were over age 35 and played in a recreational league.

After three periods of play, the heartbeat of players who did not exercise regularly was consistently higher than that of those who did.

University of B.C. sports medicine researcher Dr. Darren Warburton concurs with Atwal's findings.

"Weekend warriors per se should realize that habitual activity is much better than sporadic activity," Warburton said. "There's strong evidence that indicates if you are habitually active or physically active you have a decreased risk for sudden cardiac death."

Warburton added that cases of sudden cardiac death related to playing intense sports like hockey, which has nationwide participation of some 70,000 players, are quite rare.

Studies show an average of about one serious cardiac event per 1.5 million episodes of vigorous exercise in the general population.

"Generally, the people who have it have some underlying cardio-vascular disease," he said.

Ranbir "Rosie" Rosode had a genetic predisposition to heart attack. Both his father and brother had heart problems.

Some researchers, Atwal included, believe a slow, steady warm-up  rather than throwing yourself into exercise is also important, followed by a proper cool-down routine.