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NAPLES — Hockey lost one of its most famous faces last month when former Detroit Red Wings and Cornell coach Ned Harkness died at his home after suffering a stroke at the age of 89.

Saturday, Harkness’ former players, friends and family gathered in Glens Falls, N.Y., to honor the man who once won an NCAA championship less than an hour away at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Among those friends and former players was Florida Everblades president and general manager Craig Brush, who played for Harkness at Cornell. While there, Brush was a part of one of Harkness’ finest seasons — a 29-0-0 record that ended with a NCAA championship for the Big Red.

The two stayed friends over the years, and Harkness’ influence on Brush was such that Brush decided to name the Florida College Hockey Classic trophy the Ned Harkness Cup. The Classic is held at Germain Arena each December.

“Once you were one of Ned’s boys, you were always one of his boys,” Brush said after attending Harkness’ memorial service Saturday. “He just took care of you. ... He’s one of those people you just feel privileged to have known.”

Despite missing the Blades’ two preseason games, Brush said he was glad to have attended the memorial service, where he saw some former teammates and friends that he hadn’t seen in more than 10 years.

Five people spoke at the service, including John Hughes, a former player for Harkness and father of Olympic figure skating gold medal-winner Sarah Hughes.

Everyone told stories about Harkness and his impact on the lives of so many, including some stories that even Brush had never heard before.

John Hughes spoke of how Harkness helped jump-start Sarah’s skating career by letting her skate during intermissions when Harkness ran Lake Placid’s ice rink.

And Brush never knew about the plane crash that broke both of Harkness’ legs while he was in the Canadian Air Force during World War II — all of the other soldiers on the plane died.

But Brush also enjoyed the humorous stories, such as the one at Niagara Falls when Harkness was coaching at RPI. Harkness convinced one of his friends to pose as a Border Patrol officer who arrested the RPI team captain and said he would be have to be held for violating the law.

Harkness told the player with a straight face, “Well, we’ll be back tomorrow. We’ll pick you up then.”

“He really was a big prankster,” Brush said.