Youth Hockey Team Crash Stuns Canada: 15 Dead

NIPAWIN, Saskatchewan—A semi-trailer slammed into a bus carrying a youth hockey team in western Canada, killing 15 people and injuring 14 in a catastrophic collision that a doctor compared to an airstrike and left the vehicles obliterated in the snow. The crash sent shockwaves through the team’s small hometown and a country united by the national sport.

Canadians were moved to tears on Saturday as they learned of the identities of the deceased on the bus that was driving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team to a crucial playoff game Friday against the Nipawin Hawks.

“An entire country is in shock and mourning,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare. No one should ever have to see their child leave to play the sport they love and never come back.”

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock fought back tears as grief resonated across Canada and the NHL. “It’s got to rip the heart out of your chest,” Babcock, who grew up in Saskatoon, said at Air Canada Centre. “We pray for those families and think about them. Horrific, horrific accident.”

Added NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: “The NHL mourns the passing of those who perished and offers strength and comfort to those injured while traveling to play and be part of a game they all love.”

Toronto center Tyler Bozak said he had difficulty sleeping after hearing the news about the crash near Nipawin.

“You can’t really put into words, anything,” Bozak said before Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Montreal Canadiens. “I can’t imagine what everyone’s going through back in Saskatchewan.”

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar grew up in Humboldt. He said a friend’s son plays goaltender for the Broncos and survived the crash.

“He went to surgery last night in Saskatoon, and hopefully he’s doing better,” Bednar said from Denver. “It’s a tough time for that town. It’s a tight-knit community. It’s only 6,000 people.”

Patrick Marleau of the Maple Leafs knows the hold the game has in his country, and how “hockey is everything in Canada.”

“But in Saskatchewan, every community’s fairly small,” he said. “So everybody knows everybody and you try and look out for each other and take care of each other.”

The bus had 29 passengers, including the driver, when it crashed at about 5 p.m. on Highway 35, police said. Among the dead are Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz and radio announcer Tyler Bieber. Authorities earlier said three were in critical but later provided an update to say that 15 have now died.

Canadian police said the truck driver was initially detained but has since been released and provided with mental health assistance. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said it’s too early to state a cause for the crash.

In a tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said he called Trudeau to offer his condolences to the families of victims.

Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks, who the Broncos were set to play against, said a semi T-boned the players’ bus — an account police confirmed.

“It’s a horrible accident, my God,” Opp said.

Hassan Masri, an emergency room doctor at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital who has done work in war-torn Syria, said the crash reminded him of an airstrike. Photographs of the wreckage showed the twisted trailer with most of its wheels in the air and the bus on its side and its back portion destroyed.

Kelly Schatz, Logan’s father, says his 20-year-old son played for the Broncos for just over four years and had served as team captain for the past 2½ years. Meanwhile, tributes poured in online for coach Haugan, a father of two who was described as an amazing mentor to young players.

The names of others killed have not been confirmed. STARS air ambulance said it sent three helicopters to the scene.

The Broncos are a close-knit team from the small city of Humboldt, which has a population of about 6,000. Many gathered at the community center at the hockey arena there after word of the crash began to circulate.

Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench, wearing a green and yellow Broncos team jersey, hugged people Saturday morning as they came to the Elger Petersen Arena to comfort each other and learn more.

“It’s overwhelming. It’s been tough on everybody,” Muench said in a phone interview. “We’re a small community; some of those kids have been on the team for a number of years. A lot grew up in the community and everybody knows each other.”

The team was on its way to play in Game 5 of a semifinal against the Nipawin Hawks.

“Hockey was what brought us all together and we had two communities that were rivals in the rink. To find out that it was their first responders that aided our boys just warms your heart,” the mayor said as his voice cracked.

Multiple crisis workers were assisting relatives and friends.

“Everybody is just so devastated. These poor young boys,” said Penny Lee, the communications manager for the town of Humboldt.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a junior ‘A’ hockey league under Hockey Canada, which is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It’s open to North American-born players between the ages of 16 and 20.

Team President Kevin Garinger said parents from across western Canada were struggling to cope with the tragedy and were rushing to the scene.

“Our whole community is in shock, we are grieving and we will continue to grieve throughout this ordeal as we try to work toward supporting each other,” he said.

Michelle Straschnitzki, who lives in Airdrie, Alberta, said her 18-year old son Ryan was transported to a hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

“We talked to him, but he said he couldn’t feel his lower extremities so I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “I am freaking out. I am so sad for all of the teammates and I am losing my mind.”

Garinger said he still didn’t know the fate of one of the players living in his home.

“We just need to try to support each other as we deal with this incredible loss to our community, to our province, to our hockey world.”

Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, said he knows players on the team.

“This is I would think one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained in how we grow up here,” he said.

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Rob Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto and Ivan Moreno contributed from Milwaukee.