Former Capitals forward Brooks Laich and Dancing With The Stars contributor Julianne Hough are officially separating after nearly three years of marriage.

The couple announced their decision to PEOPLE on Friday.

“We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate,” Laich and Hough said in a joint statement. “We share an abundance of love and respect for one another and will continue to lead with our hearts from that place. We kindly request your compassion and respect for our privacy moving forward.”

Laich and Hough were first set up by famous actor and Caps fan Teddy Sears, who was a mutual friend to both.

“I did a horror movie that never got released. I’m convinced the only reason I was meant to do that movie was to meet my fiancé,” Hough told Cosmopolitan in 2016 Six years prior, Teddy Sears, my co-star, tried to invite Brooks — who was a good friend of his — to visit him in L.A. Brooks, who knows nothing about pop culture, joked, ‘What are you going to do — hook me up with that Juicy Fruit starlet?'”

“He’d seen the commercial and was like, ‘Where do I meet a girl like that?'” Hough added. “I was the girl in the commercial! Teddy remembered that comment and texted Brooks, ‘You’re never going to guess who I’m doing a movie with.'”

Laich shared part of the love story to The Sports Junkies in 2014.

So “on set, apparently, he was talking with Julianne and said he had recently just got married, just got back from his honeymoon, and then asked her if she’d been seeing anyone, and she said no or whatever, and I guess he was watching our hockey game at the time,” Laich said. “He always watches the game on GameCenter on his iPad. I guess he just showed her the iPad and said, ‘Well I’ve got a guy for you,’ or something. I guess that was how it sorta started.”

Laich didn’t meet Julianne until December when she came to DC for a wedding reception hosted by Sears and his wife Melissa.

“He kept mentioning her name, mentioning her name, and eventually we connected,” Laich said.

Once they began dating, they were inseparable and Hough became a regular at Capitals games and events.

Laich even taught Hough how to skate at a family event before the 2015 Winter Classic at Nationals Park. The couple held hands and giggled on the ice the entire time.

“I’m learning something here from her,” Laich said. “She’s a better skater than I am a dancer. She’s great. It transfers very naturally for her. She’s very, very athletic. The balance is great for her.”

Laich continued, “Some of the guys were razzing us and were like, ‘Are you guys going to do a routine?’ I said, ‘Yeah just wait. You’ll hear the music cue up and then get off the ice.'”

The couple eventually got engaged in 2015 and married in July 2017 in an outdoor ceremony outside of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

The couple showed glimpses of their relationship on social media and always seemed happy.

But earlier this year, the couple reportedly hit a rough patch in their marriage. Hough was spotted not wearing her wedding ring while co-hosting live on New Year’s Eve on NBC.

These two social media embeds kind of says it all, I think.

thought i'd seen it all until i saw julianne hough being exorcised pic.twitter.com/2w6zKH1CAW

— trey taylor (@treytylor) January 23, 2020

The two also spent the coronavirus pandemic social distancing away from each other as Laich has stayed in Idaho and Hough at her home in Los Angeles. The two apparently have not seen each other in two months.

According to PEOPLE via a source, the two remain good friends. “There is honestly no ill will. He loves her. She loves him. I can truly say they always will. But they both understand they are not meant to go through their lives as husband and wife to each other.”

We wish both Laich and Hough the best during this difficult time.

Headline photo courtesy of @brookslaich