The Calgary Stampeders were back on the practice field on Tuesday preparing to face the Hamilton Tiger-cats this weekend but their fallen teammate was still very much on the minds of the players.

The team practiced for the first time since the death of defensive back, Mylan Hicks, outside a southwest Calgary nightclub on the weekend.

Hicks was at the Marquee Beer Market on Saturday with some members of the team and was shot during an altercation outside of the bar.

He was taken to hospital in critical condition and later died from his injuries.

Nelson Tony Lugela, 19, has now been charged with second-degree murder in connection to Hicks’ death.

Despite the somber mood hanging over the practice field, the Stamps did their best to get through the drills and a few players lightened the mood with a little dancing.

“It’s not ever going to be the same but you’ve got to try to get back to who you are and just take care of yourselves and your family and we did a good job of that. Our guys are trying to work through it. I have a lot of faith in our club and in our team and yeah, we’re sad but we certainly understand what happened but we now have to live in the moment and take care of ourselves,” said Stampeders’ Head Coach Dave Dickenson. “It felt good to get the boys back together, for me at least, I was happy to have the team back in and good to get back out on the field.”

The team says it is working on a tribute for Hicks that will likely take place before the game on Saturday but the details are still being worked on.

“Didn’t need something like this to bring us together but we really feel even tighter and we love Mylan,” said Dickenson. “We’re going to get together later in the week as a team, as an organization, with the parents, tell some stories, some memories and then the parents will obviously handle the rest of that but we definitely need closure as well, we need to heal and hopefully we can do that.”

“The best thing that we can do right now is listen to ourselves and then try and put our best foot forward in Mylan’s name and that’s come out here and use football for what it could be for us and that’s a little bit of therapy sometimes,” said fullback Rob Cote. “We’re going to have to deal with it individually and as a team.”  

Some of the players have already come up with their own way to honour the 23-year-old.

Fellow defensive back Jamar Wall is switching his number for the rest of the season and will wear number 31 in honour of the Detroit-native.

“We feel like we’re moving together, you know, this is something that the team’s going to have to come together and do and to get by with and I think we’re going to come together and I think it’s going to help us,” said Wall. “That was just something I felt in my heart I needed to do. I feel like we’re a family. It’s not just a team or anything, we buy into each other, we spend multiple hours with each other and I feel like that was something I should do as being a leader on the back end and him being in my position, loving him like a true brother, that would be my privilege to do that. It’s in honour of him and the hard work he came out and did day in and day out.”

The Calgary Flames also paid tribute to Hicks at its pre-season home game against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night with a moment of silence before the puck drop.

Hicks played college ball for Michigan State and the team says he loved the black Spartan gear. They plan to honour him during their game against Indiana this weekend by wearing black socks and shoes and the players will also wear number 6 on the back of their helmets.