"He put everything he had into everything he did."

That's how former teammate and best friend Ben Simon summed up the short life and professional hockey career of Dan Snyder during a video tribute prior to Saturday's Wolves game with the Milwaukee Admirals.

Other former teammates chimed in as well, throwing out words such as humility, leadership and energy in describing the former Wolves forward who died from injuries suffered in a car crash last October but whose life was celebrated during Dan Snyder Night at the Allstate Arena.

The video tribute, which ended fittingly with a smiling Snyder hoisting the 2002 Calder Cup over his head, was just a part of a magical pregame ceremony that was witnessed by 10,024 along with members of Snyder's family.

To top off the festivities, the Wolves, behind a hat trick by Derek MacKenzie, rolled to a 4-2 victory over the best team in the AHL.

"It was pretty emotional," said Snyder's brother Jake. "I have a tough time when I see highlights of him playing out there on the ice. I never remember seeing someone so happy to score a goal. Every time you look at his face he has a smile that just lights up the whole place."

The evening began with Wolves players paying respect to their fallen comrade by taking the ice for warmups wearing Snyder's No. 19 jersey. Included in the ceremony was the presentation of the newly renamed Dan Snyder Man of the Year award for outstanding community service to defenseman Kurtis Foster.

"It's a great honor to win the award itself, but that it's named after Dan Snyder makes it even more special," Foster said. "It's an honor to be named in the same sentence as Dan."

After Snyder's father, Graham, thanked the fans and the organization, Wolves players formed a line and shook hands with the Snyders. In a move that oozed class, Admirals players joined the back of the line to pay their respects.

"That was really nice," Jake said. "I really enjoyed that. I didn't realize that was going to happen.

"It's just good to be here. There are a lot of good memories from this arena and from this organization for our whole family."

Wolves goalie Frederic Cassivi was stellar in net, stopping 39 of the 41 shots he faced, but MacKenzie stole the spotlight with the first hat trick of his professional career.

"That was pretty exciting," MacKenzie said. "A lot of our effort had to do with the pre-game festivities. It was pretty emotional to start the game and you could tell right from the drop of the puck that the guys wanted to go out there and do it for Dan. I'm glad we could pull out the win."

The victory capped a couple of intense days for the Wolves, who came into the game on a three-game losing streak, including an ugly 5-3 loss Friday in Cincinnati.

"After last night's game we spent about 20 minutes in the locker room and it was just guys letting things out," MacKenzie said. "We laid it all out on the table and I think that's the best thing we could've done."

Said Wolves coach John Anderson: "(Assistant coach) Marty Howe had a meeting with them Friday morning before the pregame skate. I had a meeting with them after the pregame skate, and after the game they had a meeting amongst themselves.

"They wanted to win so badly just so they didn't have to have any more (darn) meetings."