Symbolic shift for Broncos bus crash survivor
The goal was on an empty net in a deserted rink.
But when Layne Matechuk went top-shelf a couple of days ago in Saskatchewan during a video posted by his father, Kevin, it warmed fans everywhere. A survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash 21/2 years ago, who spent months in a coma, Matechuk had a stick and gloves again, skating gingerly, but shooting with some zip.
Sixteen players and team members died on April 6, 2018, the now 20-year-old Matechuk among 13 injured. He had jaw surgery, and his brain injury required extensive help to relearn walking.
Semi-truck driver Jaskirat Singh Sidhu pleaded guilty to 29 counts of dangerous driving, after running a stop sign near Tisdale, Sask., colliding with the Humboldt bus. He is serving eight years in prison.
EMOTIONAL FAREWELL
Superstar Steve Yzerman had 1,940 regular season and playoff points in 1,710 games, all with Detroit. Which made it hard when the GM decided to buy out Red Wings forward and Michigan native Justin Abdelkader after the latter's 803 games, all in Motown.
The 33-year-old Abdelkader, who had 265 points, had a hard time dealing with the end of his tenure in Detroit, getting around to expressing his feelings in The Players Tribune this week.
“All I ever wanted to be was a Red Wing,” he wrote. “As a boy, it was a dream I felt like I could reach out and touch when I was five years old and I was at the
Joe Louis Arena for the very first time.
“I know there are good times ahead. This team is building something special. I've seen this franchise at it's best (as a rookie on the fringe of the 2008 Cup team). I know what it takes. It will come. And when it does, that group of players will have the best fans in the world behind them.”
JOEL AND ULF REUNITED
Longtime NHL defenceman and assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson is back with Joel Quenneville in the league's coaching ranks, hired Monday as an assistant with the Florida Panthers. Almost two years to the day Samuelsson was sacked along with Quenneville in Chicago, he joined the expansion Seattle Kraken as a scout, then went home to Sweden as head coach of Leksands. He previously has been an assistant with Arizona and the New York Rangers.
I CE CHIPS
Forward Roope Hintz, who came to prominence in the Dallas Stars' run to the Cup final, re-signed Monday for three years at US$9.45 million. The loss of Tyler Seguin for the next five months with shoulder and hip surgery made Hintz's return important ... The Winnipeg
Jets signed first-rounder Cole Perfetti to a three-year, entry level deal on Monday with an AAV of $1,658,333. Perfetti had 111 points in the OHL last year. He follows Anaheim first round defenceman Jamie Drysdale, who inked his entry level contract on Saturday ... Russia won the Karjala Cup in Helsinki over the weekend, sending its junior team to the tournament as a tune-up for the worlds next month in Edmonton. Leafs' first-rounder Rodion Amirov scored in all three games. Igor Larionov was the coach ... It was 58 years ago Tuesday that Glenn Hall's streak of 502 consecutive games in goal for Chicago came to an end, the same day Howe passed Rocket Richard with his 545th goal.