Alberta town unveils statue honouring hockey coach
A nation and a region will tie emotional bonds once again to reflect, reminisce and celebrate the life of a hockey inspiration gone too soon.
The Darcy Haugan Memorial Statue will be unveiled Saturday in front of the Baytex Energy Centre in his hometown of Peace River, Alta., home of the Jr. B North Peace Navigators, to honour the late Humboldt Broncos and former Navigators head coach.
In 2018, Haugan and his Broncos were on the road to Nipawin for a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game on April 6 when their team bus was struck by a semi- truck on Highway 35 near Armley, Sask. Sixteen people — Haugan included — would perish in the crash, while 13 others suffered serious injuries.
Navigators president Albert Cooper — the driving force behind the statue project — hopes others see Haugan’s likeness as an inspiration, a representation of the man he was and continues to be in memoriam.
“Haugan was a man who was motivated by three things: his faith, his family and his friends. Included in those friends were all the kids that he coached,” Cooper said. “He wasn’t an extraordinary man, he was an ordinary man who did exceptional things and that’s what we want to honour. He touched the lives of so many kids in a very positive way, and not just in terms of hockey, but in life and how to live life. We think that’s worth honouring.”
Haugan was a founding member of the Navigators and coached the team to five North West Junior Hockey League championships between 2003 and 2015.
Cooper estimates the entire process of the memorial took about 18 to 20 months, and the statue cost about $ 80,000. It’s been trying for Cooper, pitting his emotional will against the will to honour a friend and colleague in a meaningful way.
“Every time I have gone down to look at the progress, and see his likeness emerging, it’s been a reminder of what we’re missing today,” Cooper said. “I want the reminder not to be about his death but about his life and the model it sets for me and, I hope, for others.”
Cooper hopes the statue represents a national call to arms, a reminder that all individuals can be influential in service to a community.
“I’m hoping, as we walk by it, we get the sense that, even though we’re not exceptional or extraordinary or amazing people, if we focus on others, focus on things that are really important, then we can become important in the lives of people we interact with on a daily basis.”