Goalie hurt in crash in Pats’ thoughts
The Humboldt Broncos’ bus tragedy has affected the hockey community far and wide, including members of the Regina Pats.
Goaltender Jacob Wassermann, who played in two regular-season games with the Pats, is among the survivors of an April 6 crash that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.
Injuries to Wassermann have hit the Pats “really hard,” in the words of head coach and general manager John Paddock.
Wassermann, who spent most of the 2017-18 season with the SJHL’s Broncos, played in two regularseason games with the Pats when they ran into injury situations at the goaltending position.
Paddock said he has been in regular contact with the parents of Wassermann, 18, who was born in Humboldt.
The Broncos were en route to a playoff game against the Nipawin Hawks when the team bus collided with a semi-trailer truck near Tisdale.
“It’s just a horrible thing,” Paddock said.
“We talked about it a little bit. The players, some more than others, have connections to players involved in the accident. We’re going to have work done for our whole group.”
Paddock can relate better than most to life on the bus, having played and coached in the WHL and the minor leagues.
“I’ve ridden buses far more than I’ve flown on airplanes for my hockey jobs,” said Paddock, a former NHL head coach and GM. “I will say that I’ve thought about different times when you go through bad weather — things that at times you can control but at different times you can’t control.
“Three years ago, we turned around halfway to Saskatoon, because we weren’t going to go anywhere. The conditions weren’t good. You think about those things, but I haven’t thought about it going ahead. Some of it might be that you just don’t want to think about it.”