Dispersal Draft to help Broncos rebuild
Team aims to play in league next season, but bus crash devastated the roster
There will be a dispersal draft in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League to support the Humboldt Broncos.
That was confirmed Thursday by Rick Shultz, chairman of the SJHL’S board of governors.
While the Broncos will go ahead and once again play in the league next season, their roster has been decimated by the bus crash on April 6 that left 16 people dead, including 10 players (Conner Lukan, Jacob Leicht, Jaxon Joseph, Evan Thomas, Logan Hunter, Logan Schatz, Logan Boulet, Stephen Wack, Adam Herold and Parker Tobin), their head coach and general manager Darcy Haugan and an assistant coach, Mark Cross.
Although 13 players survived the crash, four of them will be too old to play next season and others won’t be able to physically play again due to their injuries.
A league dispersal draft for the Broncos will be on the agenda this weekend when the SJHL’S board of governors meet today, Saturday and Sunday at Nipawin.
“There’s going to be a dispersal draft — we’ve determined that,” said Shultz. “We just have to see what the parameters of the dispersal draft will be. I’m thinking it’s going to be this weekend or we will be very close to figuring it out, get everybody on the same page.”
League meetings will begin today with the fourth-ever SJHL Bantam Draft.
Tonight, teams will convene for informal discussion on a variety of topics.
“Usually our meeting Friday, we like to have the GMS and coaches participate,” noted Shultz. “We meet as a group Friday and we call it kind of a bear-pit session where we all talk about making the league better.”
League meetings resume Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and continue again Sunday with scheduling and any other matters that were left unresolved.
“I don’t think the hockey part will change too much with all our rules,” noted Shultz. “A few things have been put forward. Some of the teams would like to see us go back to the north and south divisions instead of the three divisions. We might talk about that a little bit, but I hear Alberta is going to go to three divisions. So they must have been looking at our divisions.”
There will also be some talk about the league scholarship fund and SJHL assistance fund, and how that money will be dispersed.
“We’re trying to get how the Western Hockey League is with their scholarships,” noted Shultz.
“We’ve been setting money aside for the last few years. We’re trying to figure out a way to kick-start it. And I’m sure we’d like to get (the SJHL assistance fund for health and wellness) going quick because lots of people out there need help. That’s real important. That can’t come quick enough. If we can help kids, that’s why we’re there.”
50TH ANNIVERSARY
The SJHL will commemorate its 50th anniversary next season as it puts behind it the 2017-18 season which saw the spotlight glaring its brightest on the Broncos’ bus crash.