Saturday morning

For a lot of us here in Canada, we woke up on Saturday morning to hear some news which was upsetting. There had been an accident between a junior “a” hockey team bus and a transport truck in rural Saskatchewan. The worst news was that 14 people had been killed, and all of those were passengers on the bus. Yes, the hockey team on its way to a Junior “A” playoff game had been killed, and the other 15 people had been taken to the hospital with various injuries. Humboldt, Saskatchewan has lost lots of people and the town, province and even the country has been impacted by this tragic accident.

The number of killed on Saturday changed to 15 people killed and that included 9 players between 16 and 21 years of age and 6 other people on the bus including the team’s head coach. It is something to think about all these families that have lost someone that was part of their family. What some people didn’t realize that was a number of the players from the team were not from Humboldt but from other towns and cities from Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia along with other towns in Saskatchewan. So yes, a number of families lost their sons, but there are the billet families that have also lost part of their families as well.

The media has been very respectful given the situation this time and that is good because it is hard to figure out what happened and all those details. It has been something to listen to some of the NHL players and coaches talk about the different bus trips that they took as junior players, and some of these same people knew either the players/coaches or family members of the team. The impact of this accident impacts the country as a whole, as hockey is so much part of what kids grow up playing here in Canada.

It is hard to accept that one accident during the day can have such a large impact on a country, but I have to admit that this accident did. Hockey is part of Canada and when something like this happens the entire country feels it. I know that I have never played hockey, and I am not a parent, but I am feeling the hurt knowing that there are lots of families now dealing with a loss. There are also lots of families trying to help their injured family member deal with their own injuries as well as the lost of their teammates, who in so many ways are their extended family.

Hockey is so much part of Canada and next time you see a team bus on a highway or anywhere remember there are hundreds of those buses that travel the roads each week and sometimes things happen, and the hurt will start all over again.