Friends, family and teammates gathered at a west Toronto church Monday to pay tribute to Canadian freestyle skier Nik Zoricic, who died earlier this month at an event in Switzerland.

"His last days were just as full of life as the rest of it," said longtime teammate Dave Duncan.

Only a day before his death, Zoricic had enjoyed a curling match against the Swiss skicross team, Duncan said.

It was a day with plenty of laughter and good times -- two things that were a constant in Zoricic's 29 years.

The pair also spent the final days before Zoricic's death in the Swiss mountains, doing what they loved.

"We were jumping off cliffs, we were zip-lining and just skiing in the sun," Duncan told reporters, who had gathered outside the church. The funeral was closed to the media.

Duncan had been friends with Zoricic for nearly two decades, and had experienced many of the same victories and struggles.

"We shared everything -- success, failure. He was my boy, it was great having him on the road, he's going to be missed."

Zoricic died on March 10 after suffering head injuries during a crash at a World Cup skicross event in Grindelwald, Switzerland.

Zoricic, 29, flew wide of the track's final jump and crashed into a safety net lining the side of the course, suffering "severe neurotrauma."

He is survived by sister Katarina, mother Silvia, father Bebe, and grandparents Sonia, Hinko, Rada and Branko.

His family moved to Canada from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina when he was five years old.

Zoricic took up alpine skiing at a young age before turning to skicross – making his debut at the Freestyle World Cup on Jan. 19, in Lake Placid, New York, where he placed 61st.

He missed the cut for the Canadian Olympic skicross team in 2010, but made waves on the World Cup circuit. His best showing came on Jan. 7, 2011, when he finished second at an event in St. Johann, Austria.

The entire Canadian skicross team, including Olympic gold medallist Ashleigh McIvor and world champion Chris Del Bosco, attended Monday's funeral at Islington United Church.

Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza, who was a friend of Zoricic's, was one of the pallbearers.

Earlier this year, Winter X Games champion Sarah Burke died from injuries following a crash during training in Park City, Utah. Burke was also 29.

But officials maintain that their sport is safe.

"The No. 1 priority for us as an organization is the health of our athletes," Alpine Canada president Max Gartner said.

"We know that there is risk in the sport, and a lot of people work very, very hard to try to make it as safe as possible, and this outcome is something that happens very, very rarely, and we're all shocked. And I'm sure everybody looks at everything they can to make sports safer in the future."

With a report from The Canadian Press