HUMBOLDT SEES OUR LOVE
Canadians don jerseys to show support,
From gymnasiums filled with students to first responders standing outside stations, Calgarians sent images of support to the Humboldt Broncos on Thursday as they joined communities across the country in marking Jersey Day.
Schools and workplaces throughout the city were filled with sports jerseys and the green and gold colours of the Broncos as a gesture of support for the hockey team that lost 16 people in a bus collision last week.
Jersey Day, which was spearheaded by a group of hockey parents in B.C., was seen being honoured nationally and even internationally through photos posted to social media. The Humboldt Broncos, in a message posted to Twitter, responded: “We see you. We hear you. We love you.”
In Calgary, locals seen wearing jerseys included firefighters, police officers, nurses, teachers, politicians, athletes and staff at companies and facilities across the city.
In photos shared on Twitter by school districts including the Calgary Board of Education, the Calgary Catholic School District, the Foothills School Division and Rocky View Schools, students clad in jerseys were seen filling classrooms, hallways, gyms and foyers. Some students also organized Humboldt tributes in the form of banners, bake sales, hockey sticks and green ribbons.
At Mount Royal University, staff and students paused in front of a memorial for a former student, Humboldt Broncos athletic therapist Dayna Brons, who died Wednesday from injuries sustained in the crash.
Student Kate Scidmore, a member of the MRU Cougars women’s hockey team, said athletic therapists are a huge part of the team.
“They are with you on every road trip, and they are there for you through your good times and bad, so I think it’s amazing what they ’re doing here for her,” she said.
Scidmore’s MRU Cougars teammate, Cassidy Trotter, called the support shown around the world for the Broncos amazing.
“Honestly, it could have happened to anyone, so it’s really good to see all the support that they’re getting and all the money they’ve raised for them,” she said.
She noted the women’s hockey team is on a bus almost every weekend.
“So we really feel for those guys who were involved,” she said, adding that some of her teammates knew victims of the bus crash.
At the University of Lethbridge, staff and students paid tribute to Logan Boulet, who was also killed in the crash. Boulet had been accepted to attend the university this fall.
They are with you on every road trip, and they are there for you through your good times and bad, so I think it’s amazing what they’re doing here for her.
The institution also marked Jersey Day in memory of another member of the Lethbridge hockey community, Brock Hirsche, who died of cancer last weekend. He was the former captain of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
“The families of Brock Hirsche and Logan Boulet should be proud of the sons they raised; the city and university communities are extremely proud of them, too,” the university said in a statement posted to social media.