Humboldt tragedy touches Sask. WHL teams

By Matthew Gourlie

The Swift Current Broncos have worn a four-leaf clover on their jerseys for the past 31 years.

The clover isn’t for luck, rather it is there for remembrance of a great tragedy and honour the four Broncos — Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff — who died in a bus crash on Dec. 30, 1986 en route to a game in Regina.

Friday night the Broncos and the Moose Jaw Warriors were preparing for the first game of a Western Hockey League playoff series that they had been building towards for most of the season.

And then, suddenly, the game seemed unimportant.

Both team’s coaching staffs learned shortly before the pre-game warm-ups that the Humboldt Broncos bus has been in accident with a semitrailer unit on Hwy. 35 as Humboldt travelled to Nipawin to play Game 5 of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff series.

“It hits too close to home. It happened so many years ago, but it still seems like yesterday. I remember where I was when that happened,” said Broncos general manager/head coach Emanuel Viveiros. “You just pray to God that something like that would never happen again.”

Viveiros had turned pro by 1986, but he and Kruger had been teammates in Prince Albert the season before.

“It affects everybody in the hockey community and touches someone in some way. I know it affects some of the kids in our room,” Viveiros said. “It’s an absolute terrible tragedy.”

Neither team informed their players of the accident until after the Warriors skated away with a 5-3 Game 1 win. While details were scant post-game, the mood was sombre. There were 28 people on the bus and late Friday night the RCMP said that 14 had died, the other 14 were hospitalized and three more were in critical condition.

“We just found out after the game. I don’t even have words… my stomach is just in knots,” said Warriors 20-year-old winger Tanner Jeannot. “I played against some of those guys growing up. I don’t know any of them personally, but it just kind of puts it in perspective.

“It could be anyone. It could be any team on the road. It’s a tragedy. It’s terrible and I just can’t even imagine what those families are going through.”

The Humboldt Broncos pose for a team photo in their locker room after eliminating Melfort in the SJHL playoffs. twitter photo

Viveiros said the hockey community is more akin to a family. That family quickly let Humboldt know that they were in their thoughts from around the world.

“You remember back to the Swift Current Bronco accident and all of the people who were affected by that who are still in the game,” said Warriors head coach Tim Hunter. “You go on twitter in the modern age now and it’s just staggering the amount of people that are sending out well wishes and thoughts and prayers out to the families and the players. The hockey community is a very tight-knit community and everyone is thinking about those people.”

The teams battled tooth and nail in Game 1, blissfully unaware of the unfolding tragedy. Everyone agreed that the accident put things in perspective.

“Hockey takes a back seat to life,” Jeannot said. “Everyone has their own life, their own families, important people. Hockey is a blessing that we get.

“That’s why you have to make the most of every day and count your blessings.”

There was no word Friday if the WHL’s slate of Saturday playoff games would go ahead as scheduled.

“It’s going to take some healing,” Viveiros said. “Our kids are in shock and quite honestly we, as a coaching staff, were in shock ourselves through the whole game here.

“We’re in the playoffs, but that means absolutely nothing. Those could have been our kids. Those are kids and it’s just an awful, awful tragedy.”

•  •  •  •

On the ice, the Warriors got off to strong start and built a 3-0 lead midway through the second period. Jayden Halbgewachs deflected a Brandon Schuldhaus point shot to open the scoring in the first period. Justin Almeida extended the lead and then Tanner Jeannot scored his first of the post-season 7:50 into the period. The Broncos didn’t manage a shot on goal in the second period until 10:36 had elapsed.

Sahvan Khaira got the Broncos on the board with 41.2 seconds left in the second period. Andrew Fyten scored a short-handed goal for the Broncos 5:44 into the third to cut the Warriors’ lead to 3-2.

Brayden Burke’s seventh of the playoffs won back some Warrior momentum, but Tyler Steenbergen’s seventh of the playoffs with 6:25 left set up a tense finale.

The Warriors killed off a late Broncos power play and Jeannot iced the game with an empty-net goal with 9.6 seconds left to earn a 1-0 series lead.

Brody Willms made 24 saves for the Warriors and Stuart Skinner stopped 20 shots for the Broncos.