Former players urge hockey teams to sign up to donate blood
REGINA Stu Middleton was on a family holiday in the happiest place in the world when he was horrified to hear of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash April 6.
“I was in Disneyland in California and I felt so guilty that I couldn’t do anything from there,” Middleton said.
The crash triggered guilt and pain for the 36-year-old Kamloops man as he thought back to 2000 when he was 18 and a junior hockey player with the Revelstoke Grizzlies.
And now he is hoping to use the Broncos tragedy and his own experience to help bring hockey teams across the country out to donate blood.
Eighteen years ago, Middleton was in the dressing room with his fellow players when the coach took him aside and told him his father had been killed while driving to the game between Revelstoke and Golden on the treacherous Rogers Pass.
His father died and his grandfather was seriously injured when two semi trucks collided and their vehicle was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In his grief, Middleton leaned heavily on teammate Tanner Murray, particularly the first time the team rode the bus over Rogers Pass.
“It all comes down to that defining moment on the bus,” Middleton said. “It was my first time on the bus and it was just a coincidence that we were going through the Rogers Pass. When we arrived in Golden, I was crying. The whole bus emptied, but Tanner stayed and we talked about it.
You create an unbreakable bond that lasts forever and that’s what is so special about hockey.
“You create an unbreakable bond that lasts forever and that’s what is so special about hockey.”
After hearing of the Broncos tragedy, Middleton spent the last three days of his Disneyland vacation sending emails and posts to Murray and other former hockey teammates.
“I said, ‘ We have to do something to get all of the teams on board — every team, league and association,’ ” Middleton said. “It all ties back to when my dad died. I felt nothing good came from it and I still feel that way today. ... After my dad’s death, the highway didn’t get widened, they never lowered the speed limit. It always bugged me that he died for no purpose.”
To pay homage to the Humboldt Broncos players and families, Middleton joined the Canadian Blood Services Partners for Life Program and set up a website — hockeygivesblood.ca.
He hopes every hockey team in the country will go to the website, click on the link to Canadian Blood Services and sign up to donate blood.
He and Murray, who lives in Vancouver, will be a part of the campaign and donate blood in that city on Sunday.
Middleton plans to keep the website updated by posting the names of teams who participate in the blood drive.
For more information, go to hockeygivesblood.ca.
“I am determined to make sure something good can come from this so when we look back in 10 years we can know from this moment that all teams and leagues across Canada started donating blood as part of their annual program,” Middleton said. “These teams can then invite their communities to come donate with them. I think that would be very special.”