THUNDER BAY – Azia Vass says the April 6 bus crash that killed 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos organization is unimaginable and unfair.
The collision, which occurred on a lonely stretch of Northern Saskatchewan highway, has reverberated throughout Canada, millions able to relate to life on the road, traveling to distant towns for hockey tournaments and soccer games, laughing and joking with teammates while mentally getting ready for the big game.
On Thursday, nearly 300 athletes, parents and members of the Thunder Bay sports community gathered at the Hangar at Lakehead University, jerseys donned in support of those whose lives were lost or forever changed in an instant that fateful night.
“To the victims of this crash,” she said, her voice breaking while sniffing back a tear, “we shared a common passion for the sport of hockey and I am incredibly saddened thinking about the fact that you’ll never lace up your skates again.
“We as hockey players understand our privilege and promise you that every time we board our bus and every time we step on the ice, you will be with us.”
Vass’ words were among the most powerful on a day of powerful speeches, which began with Tom Cochrane’s reworked version of his song Big League, the lyrics updated to reflect the Humboldt tragedy, included a moment of prayer and silence and ended with the laying of a bouquet of flowers for each person who died in the tragedy, as well as hockey sticks and pucks adorned with words of support for the fallen.
Thunder Bay North Stars captain Joe Newhouse said he was terrified when asked to speak, not knowing what he would say.
As he began typing out his speech on Wednesday night, when words failed him and the tears began flowing, he turned to the sport he loves to find comfort.
“I’d get teary-eyed, I’d get choked up and to stop thinking about it, I just shut my laptop and watched hockey. It’s amazing the power it has. It just brings thousands and millions of people together, as you saw here today,” said Newhouse, whose team will hit the road this weekend, bound for Dryden and the start of the SIJHL’s Bill Salonen Cup final.
Seeing how many people came out, and how many more dusted off their favourite jersey on Thursday throughout the city was heartwarming, he said.
“Hockey’s a family. You can talk to any person who played junior and have a conversation about the teams they played on or the players they played against, it’s such a small circle. Everybody knows everybody and when one group of people is taken away, it affects everybody,” Newhouse said.
The deadly crash had a profound effect on the Thunderwolves men’s hockey team, whose first-year forward Josh Laframboise was best friends with Broncos captain Logan Schatz, one of the 16 who died on April 6.
Laframboise was absent Thursday, in Saskatchewan for his friend’s funeral.
Captain Dillon Donnelly said it’s been a tough week for the hockey world.
“My first reaction was disbelief. It’s unimaginable … I mainly just thought back to my teammates that I’ve spent so much time on the bus with,” Donnelly said, recalling his junior days and life on the highways of the Maritimes and Quebec.
“You really grow up on the bus because of the amount of time you spend there. You really discover yourself, sitting there. You’re really starting at nothing but trees, but you really find out who you are on there. For that to happen in that setting is just awful.”
A GoFundMe account in support of the victims of the crash has raised more than $9.7 million.
