Four weeks ago, Lewiston Maineiacs’ defenseman Michael Ward was playing in a ball-hockey tournament on an admittedly stacked-with-talent team with friend Luc Bourdon, a 21-year-old Vancouver Canucks prospect from Shippagan, New Brunswick.

“We had a pretty good team,” Ward said. “It was pretty fun.”

Ward did his best to hold back his emotions, but even over the phone, that simple moment was tough to talk about on Friday.

This weekend, Ward, a Shippagan native, will mourn along with his community as they bury Bourdon, the casualty of a motorcycle accident between Shippagan and Lameque, New Brunswick.

“I wouldn’t say I was his best friend or anything, but I knew him pretty well,” Ward said.

“He was a role model for all the young players in the area, even myself. He was a star around here. He’s going to be remembered for a long time.”

Bourdon played nearly three seasons for Val d’Or, a rival of Lewiston’s in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He was traded to Moncton for the second half of the 2005-06 season, and then to Cape Breton for the second half of the 2006-07 season.

“Of course, playing in the Q against him was weird, a little bit,” Ward said.

While he was with Val d’Or, Bourdon formed a special bond with fellow defenseman Kris Letang, who played against the Maineiacs in the President’s Cup final in 2007, and who is now playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals.

“(Three days ago), we were talking about his motorcycle, and I never thought it would happen,” Letang told NHL.com. “I can’t still believe it, because when you lose someone close like that, you can’t do much. And it’s so tough to me. He was my best friend.”

Former Maineiacs’ defenseman Chad Denny, now with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL as that team tries for the Calder Cup, also remembered Bourdon fondly.

“I got to play with him for Team Atlantic at the U-17s,” Denny said, “and in the Q All-Star game against the Russians. He was a great guy, a great person. It’s so sad. You never know what’s going to happen.”

The Vancouver Canucks selected Bourdon with the 10th overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He played on Canada’s gold-medal winning World Junior Championship teams in 2006 and 2007, making the All-Tournament team in 2006. He was promoted to the Canucks for nine games in 2007.

He became a full-time professional this year and played 41 games for the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, where he had six goals and eight assists. Bourdon was promoted to the Canucks several times this season, playing 27 NHL games, where he registered two goals and a plus-7 rating. Bourdon played in the NHL for most of November, February and March. The Canucks returned him to Manitoba for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Police said Bourdon was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a road near his home in Shippagan in northern New Brunswick around 12:30 P.M. He reportedly struck a tractor-trailer and was killed instantly.

“Every time I played with him, it was always a lot of fun,” Ward said.