First off, prayers to those who perished and those who survived. My sympathy to the immediate families, the billet families, the management and support staff of the Broncos. The unimaginable grief stretches beyond the small town of Humboldt, Saskatchewan. It touches small towns throughout Saskatchewan and into Manitoba and Alberta where a number of the players were from.
So, why has this affected such a large part of all of Canada? To fall back upon the tired stereotype, simply put hockey is our game. To hear that the arena in Humboldt was called the community centre of the entire area isn’t a cliche, it’s a fact. I’ve never been to Humboldt but I can almost guarantee you that the arena there, as in most communities, is the largest building in the town. A Friday night to Sunday afternoon from October to March that arena will host dozens of house, rep and junior games, and everyone will show up. The rink is the heart of your community and is often filled with photos and mementos of past teams. From the rafters above the ice hang championship banners and there might be tributes to players who went onto glory in the “bigs”. Sometimes from the rafters hang retired numbers of players who died too young...
A good number of the players who come to these small towns from even smaller towns will become stars in their adopted communities, visiting schools to talk to younger kids, pop into senior centres to be doted upon by folks who just might be their grandparents and do team oriented charity functions. Every so often there’s the one kid who steps up and takes charge in a community, raising awareness and money for a particular cause. In my hometown we’ve been blessed the past four years with one such player who made it his calling to focus on mental health issues. He’ll likely never make it to the NHL, but his work in our community will not be soon forgotten.
I work gamedays for our local OHL team and the stories I’ve heard of those long road trips north to the Soo, North Bay and Sudbury in the “O” are nothing compared to the long hauls that teams from the West and the Quebec/Atlantic leagues. It’s said that for these kids the rink is their real home. If so, then the bus is their office. For the coaches the bus is where line combos and strategies for that upcoming game are mapped out and where the chewing out of the players takes place after a game. The bus is where homework is caught up on, cards are played and yet another viewing of Slapshot or Stepbrothers takes place (those long scenes of nothing but the team bus rolling down the highway in Slapshot aren’t just to fill out the running time of the movie it’s an excellent representation of the time spent on the road). While on the subject of the bus, here’s a tip of the hat to the drivers of all those buses. In many cases the driver is the one who makes the call as to whether or not it’s safe to head out on the road. Based upon the number of teams that travel in lousy conditions throughout the winter, it’s a miracle a tragedy like this isn’t more common.
Ironically Saturday was the OHL draft of fifteen year old players and was taking place as the magnitude of what happened to the Humboldt Broncos was being felt. One can only imagine the conflicting emotions of the parents as their sons were selected to make that next step in their hockey career while hearing of the tragedy that befell the parents of the Broncos. This may not have registered in the mind of a fifteen year old because, after all, they’re ten feet tall and bullet-proof at that age. However, it had to have been on the minds of their families.
Sadly the Humboldt Broncos will be forever linked to such places that suffered similar tragedies like Swift Current, Marshall, Manchester and Yaroslavl.
So, why has this affected such a large part of all of Canada? To fall back upon the tired stereotype, simply put hockey is our game. To hear that the arena in Humboldt was called the community centre of the entire area isn’t a cliche, it’s a fact. I’ve never been to Humboldt but I can almost guarantee you that the arena there, as in most communities, is the largest building in the town. A Friday night to Sunday afternoon from October to March that arena will host dozens of house, rep and junior games, and everyone will show up. The rink is the heart of your community and is often filled with photos and mementos of past teams. From the rafters above the ice hang championship banners and there might be tributes to players who went onto glory in the “bigs”. Sometimes from the rafters hang retired numbers of players who died too young...
A good number of the players who come to these small towns from even smaller towns will become stars in their adopted communities, visiting schools to talk to younger kids, pop into senior centres to be doted upon by folks who just might be their grandparents and do team oriented charity functions. Every so often there’s the one kid who steps up and takes charge in a community, raising awareness and money for a particular cause. In my hometown we’ve been blessed the past four years with one such player who made it his calling to focus on mental health issues. He’ll likely never make it to the NHL, but his work in our community will not be soon forgotten.
I work gamedays for our local OHL team and the stories I’ve heard of those long road trips north to the Soo, North Bay and Sudbury in the “O” are nothing compared to the long hauls that teams from the West and the Quebec/Atlantic leagues. It’s said that for these kids the rink is their real home. If so, then the bus is their office. For the coaches the bus is where line combos and strategies for that upcoming game are mapped out and where the chewing out of the players takes place after a game. The bus is where homework is caught up on, cards are played and yet another viewing of Slapshot or Stepbrothers takes place (those long scenes of nothing but the team bus rolling down the highway in Slapshot aren’t just to fill out the running time of the movie it’s an excellent representation of the time spent on the road). While on the subject of the bus, here’s a tip of the hat to the drivers of all those buses. In many cases the driver is the one who makes the call as to whether or not it’s safe to head out on the road. Based upon the number of teams that travel in lousy conditions throughout the winter, it’s a miracle a tragedy like this isn’t more common.
Ironically Saturday was the OHL draft of fifteen year old players and was taking place as the magnitude of what happened to the Humboldt Broncos was being felt. One can only imagine the conflicting emotions of the parents as their sons were selected to make that next step in their hockey career while hearing of the tragedy that befell the parents of the Broncos. This may not have registered in the mind of a fifteen year old because, after all, they’re ten feet tall and bullet-proof at that age. However, it had to have been on the minds of their families.
Sadly the Humboldt Broncos will be forever linked to such places that suffered similar tragedies like Swift Current, Marshall, Manchester and Yaroslavl.
