As the grieving continues for the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), Yellowknife's Devin Case is sure of one thing: they will come back strong.
Case is an alumnus of the SJHL, having played two seasons with the Kindersley Klippers from 2013 to 2015.
News of the accident in which the Broncos’ bus was headed for a playoff game and collided with a tractor-trailer truck, killing 16, was numbing.
“I got a text from an old teammate of mine in Kindersley and he was telling me that a bus got into an accident,” said Case. “I started checking out social media and the details were scarce at first but then teammates were getting phone calls and the info started pouring out about casualties.”
Case was hopeful everything he was hearing about the incident wasn't true.
It was.
“I'm only three years removed from the league and I was numb when everything was confirmed,” he said. “I had to remove myself from everything about it for the first couple of days because it was tough seeing and hearing about it all. It's gotten easier now because it's become a celebration of their lives now more than grief and the outpouring of support from all over the world has been amazing.”
Case travelled the very same highways those Broncos players would have travelled when going to or coming back from road games, a necessity when one is playing junior hockey in Canada.
He and his teammates managed to get back safely every time and can only remember a couple of instances where he stayed awake wondering.
“I only had a couple nights of no sleep,” he said. “Those were the times where it was 3 a.m., snow was blowing around the bus, and that's where the bus driver would slow it down to about 50 km/h. A two-hour drive became a four-hour drive but you didn't mind that because it had to be done.”
The long bus rides were also times for the players to get themselves in the right frame of mind, he added.
“The closer you got, the more you started thinking about the game and the bus got pretty quiet,” he said. “Those guys on the Broncos bus were almost in Nipawin and I'm sure those guys were thinking about the game, a playoff game, and I'm sure the nerves were there.”
Case played several times in Humboldt as a member of the Klippers and while he didn't know any of the players who were killed personally, he said he remembers Humboldt as a town that loves its hockey and its team.
“That's a Saskatchewan thing,” he said. “There's no professional team there so the communities come together and really support their junior teams. Humboldt has been one of the most successful franchises in the SJHL and there's a big bond. It's a great hockey town.”
The SJHL's 12 teams, including Humboldt, voted unanimously on Wednesday to move ahead with the championship series, which will see the Nipawin Hawks take on the Estevan Bruins. Game one of the final is scheduled to happen in Nipawin tomorrow night. The league's playoffs had been postponed indefinitely following the Broncos' bus crash with the Hawks holding down a 3-1 lead over the Broncos.
Case said it will not be easy but he knows the Broncos will be back strong for next season.
“You have to believe they'll come back,” he said. “I know they'll find someone who can help build it behind the bench and I know the community, and the province, will be behind them. I'm sure there's a lot of young hockey players who want to be a part of building something special there.”