SURVIVOR PLAYS ON
Brayden Camrud recovering and getting ready to resume playing for the team
Humboldt Broncos Crash survivor Brayden Camrud dons his gear prior to practising At Rod Hamm Arena this week. Camrud is training for the upcoming SJHL hockey season And says he’ll Be playing for All his teammates who lost their lives in the tragedy.
It’s mid-afternoon and the parking lot outside a local rink sits largely empty.
Around the city, most hockey bags are stowed away for the offseason and hockey sticks rest on porches. Inside Rod Hamm Arena, however, a milk crate full of pucks is dumped onto the ice.
During the light workout that ensues, Humboldt Broncos bus crash survivor Brayden Camrud proceeds to shoot pucks, stickhandle and dangle like you would expect from somebody who has played the past two seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, and not like someone who survived a horrific bus crash two months ago that left 16 of his teammates, coaches and colleagues dead.
For now, he’s a solitary figure on the ice. When the Broncos gather in the fall to begin the 2018-19 season, Camrud may be the only bus crash survivor able to resume playing for the team. Some will be too old. Others will be physically unable to return.
Camrud is on the comeback trail, representing both the past and the future for the Humboldt Broncos. He is the link to both — and he wants to lead the way into next season.
He wants “to be the guy to represent everybody who isn’t here anymore,” says Camrud, a feisty five-foot-nine, 181-pound forward from Saskatoon who played minor hockey in the Knights, Aces and Wild zones.
“Everything is for them. If I can be that person for them, to the best of my ability, I want to and I’m going to do it the best that I can for the organization, for the city of Humboldt, and even if I’m not I’m still going to be a leader in some sort of way for everybody.”
Compared to most of his teammates, Camrud sustained relatively minor injuries in the April 6 bus crash at an intersection between Tisdale and Nipawin.
The team was only 15 or 20 minutes outside Nipawin, where the Broncos were travelling to battle the Nipawin Hawks in an SJHL playoff game, when the bus collided with a semi-trailer unit.
In the violent and catastrophic crash, 16 people died. Those who survived were left with both physical and emotional scars.
Camrud soldiers on. He says he’s doing “all right.” He did not suffer any fractures or broken bones, but did endure a concussion. Camrud continues with physiotherapy, plus chiropractic and massage treatment for his shoulder and neck. Right now, he’s trying to recover as much as possible because he wants to get back to playing hockey as quickly as he can.
“I’m anxious to get back,” said Camrud, who was the Broncos’ fifth-leading scorer last year with 16 goals and 26 assists in 57 games before adding four goals and four assists in nine playoff games.
“Mentally, I’m doing OK. I’ll have some days where I’m just sad, and I’m sitting there just thinking about (those who died). Other than that, it’s good because I’m with my parents all the time and my family. They are there for me if I need them. I’m always keeping busy so I’m not constantly thinking about it, but it’s going all right.”
DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN?
On April 6, in the moments after the crash, Camrud was able to pick himself up and survey the unimaginable situation unfolding around him.
“I woke up kind of just dazed,” he recalls. “I kind of realized what happened and I’m kind of trying to take it all in, like, ‘Did this really happen?’ I got up after it, got my balance and I looked over and I saw a teammate. I could tell he wasn’t here with us anymore. I’m still trying to kind of figure out what’s going on and I see another teammate and he’s screaming. He’s in pain and I can’t even comprehend what’s happening because it was just so unbelievable.
“Finally, after everything had kind of happened, I was trying to calm him down and stuff. At one point, I do remember somebody tossing a blanket on me because I was freezing and shaking. When help did arrive, I was pulled out ... and put in an ambulance with another teammate and we were grabbing each other, and holding each other tight.”
Camrud was transported to Nipawin Hospital. His parents had been heading to the game but instead met him at the hospital. He was flown to St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon and then later transferred to Royal University Hospital, where he joined his teammates.
The days immediately following the crash, and then the ensuing couple of weeks, were the hardest, Camrud says. He was one of the first players to be released from hospital, after graduating 20-yearold players Matthieu Gomeric and Nick Shumlanski — both of whom were able to attend a vigil in Humboldt on April 8.
Attending the earliest funerals, thinking about what happened, “was so hard and real, realizing that parents aren’t having their kids come home anymore,” Camrud said. “You just try to push away and not think about it, but you do think about it and it’s so hard.”
Camrud attended every funeral he could physically get to: 13 out of 16. Then he took a break, spending time alone at home with his family. He remains in touch with teammates and sees them as much as he can. Each is handling the experience in a different way, Camrud says. Some aren’t doing well. Others are doing a little better.
“You try to see the positives and think about how (those killed) would want you to live your life. At the same time, it’s hard to do that just because you don’t know how,” Camrud says.
“You don’t know how you should feel. It gets hard. Mostly everybody is doing all right. I’m trying to keep in touch with the guys so that I know if they are doing all right and if they need anything from me.”
Camrud attended a Broncos benefit concert in Saskatoon. He travelled to Pittsburgh, where he joined former NHLER Colby Armstrong for a Stanley Cup playoff game between the Penguins and Washington Capitals. On Tuesday, he left for Las Vegas, where he plans to attend Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final between the Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights.
Two weekends ago, Camrud and teammate Derek Patter attended the Broncos’ recent spring camp in Saskatoon, where NHL coaches Mike Babcock and Jared Bednar lent a hand along with former NHLER Kelly Chase. Although Camrud didn’t make it out to an event with the Saskatchewan Roughriders last Sunday in Humboldt, he says he is seeing his teammates as much as possible.
He says the trips and events have been “cool,” but “at the same time, they do feel a little weird because of the circumstances that I’m there because my teammates aren’t, but they wouldn’t want me to think that. They’d want me to enjoy myself and have a good time with my other teammates who are still here, so it’s a little bit back and forth. I’ll think about the bad side of it, but I’ll also try to enjoy myself at the same time.”
BACK ON THE ICE
In the two months since the crash, Camrud has been on the ice just a few times: once with his former Saskatoon midget AAA Blazers team and another time helping out a young Huskie Prospects squad. Monday’s skate was his third.
He got cleared for light activity last Thursday. The first time skating “was a little weird,” he says.
“It felt kind of empty, like I was the only one out there as a Bronco. I’m sure that will change once it gets closer to the season.”
Another first following the crash is coming soon. Camrud admits he doesn’t know how he will handle boarding a bus, saying “...you never really think anything bad can happen on a bus. It’s almost like a safe haven. All you can think about is going there with your teammates, playing cards, joking around or getting ready for a big game,” he says. “For something like that to happen, it’s never going to be the same feeling.”