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Small town grieves for Canadian youth hockey bus crash victims

Ex-Northern Michigan University hockey player Darcy Haugan stands on skates with the North West Junior Hockey League championship banner his North Peace, British Columbia, Navigators won in his final season as the team’s coach in 2015. He left later that year for the Humboldt Broncos, the team he was with when its bus crashed and 15 people on board, including Haugan, died on Friday. (Photo courtesy of the Humboldt Journal)

HUMBOLDT, Saskatchewan — This shattered town mourned its revered local youth hockey team, trying to come to grips with a devastating highway accident that killed 15 players and team personnel and injured the other 14 people on their bus.

People filed into the team’s home arena Sunday night for a vigil, filing up entry steps piled with flowers, jerseys and personal mementos in a makeshift memorial.

At the vigil, Sean Brandow, the local pastor and team chaplain, described how he happened upon the horrific accident scene Friday night and heard sounds of people he knew dying after a semi-trailer slammed into the bus taking the team to a playoff game.

“We traveled up and arrived at the scene … and walked up on a scene I never want to see again, to sounds I never want to hear again,” Brandow said.

The small town’s disaster was a blow, too, for Canada and its national sport. Among the dead were Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz and radio announcer Tyler Bieber.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police lay flowers at the crash site near Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Sunday where 15 people died on a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team. (AP photo)

Haugan played hockey at Northern Michigan University in the 1996-97 season. He was a defenseman who scored two goals and had one assist for three points in six games, according to the www.hockeydb.com website.

Brandow said he was on his way to the Broncos game and arrived at the scene right after the collision. He described hearing the cries and holding the hand of a lifeless body.

“To sit and hold the hand of a lifeless body,” he said. “All I saw was darkness and hurt and anguish and fear and confusion. And I had nothing. Nothing. I’m a pastor, I’m supposed to have something.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the driver of the truck that hit the bus was initially detained but later released and provided with mental health assistance. Police have given no cause for the wreck, saying a lot of issues remained to be investigated, including weather conditions at the time and any mechanical issues with the vehicles.

Team President Kevin Garinger choked back tears as he read out the names of the 15 dead to those at the vigil. People embraced each other, crying. Boxes of Kleenex were passed down rows.

Flowers ringed the team logo at center ice. Pictures of the dead and injured stood in front of the audience.

Nick Shumlanski, an injured player who was released from the hospital, attended the vigil wearing his white, green and yellow team jersey, with a bruise under his left eye.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the injured at the hospital Sunday and then attended the vigil. He sat among the crowd with his 11-year-old son, Xavier, who is a hockey player

On the arena’s front steps, one tribute included a Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner box, which was a favorite meal of Evan Thomas, a forward who died in the crash. A bouquet of pink roses adorned the box, which read: “to Evan, game day special, love your billet brother and sister Colten and Shelby.”

Most of the players were from elsewhere in western Canada and they lived with families in Humboldt, a town of about 6,000 people. Families who provide homes for players are a large part of junior hockey in Canada, with players spending years with host families.

Dennis Locke, his wife and three young children came to the arena to hang posters of forward Jaxon Joseph, who was the son of former NHL player Chris Joseph. The Locke family hosted Joseph and treated him like a son.

“Best person ever,” Locke said. “Down to earth, loved playing with the kids.”

The Broncos were a close-knit team who dyed their hair blond for the playoffs. Garinger, the team president, said the team won’t disband. The home page of the team’s website was replaced with a silhouette of a man praying beneath the Broncos’ logo of a mustang.

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