Son of 1st Rockets captain among dead in Saskatchewan bus crash
The son of the first captain of the Tacoma Rockets hockey team was among those who died in the Saskatchewan bus tragedy.
Evan Thomas, 18, was one of 15 people killed when the Humboldt Broncos team bus collided with a semi-trailer near Tisdale, Sask. Scott
His father Scott captained the Rockets’ during their inaugural 1991 season in the Western Hockey League, when the team played in Tacoma, Wash., before later moving to Kelowna.
“The Kelowna Rockets organization sends our deepest condolences to Scott, the Thomas family, and everyone affected by this terrible tragedy,” the Rockets said in a news release.
“Evan is being remembered as a boy who was devoted to hockey, and who was an excellent player,” the release says. “The 18-year-old had just completed his rookie season with the Broncos.”
Scott Thomas is now president of the Saskatoon Blazers of the WHL.
In an interview with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Thomas said many young people who knew his son have been coming by the family home since the Friday night crash.
“Eight of them showed up on our doorstep last night . . . and just sat there and cried with us,” Thomas told the newspaper. “Nobody really said anything. We all just cried together.”
Scott said he never felt like his son was following in his footsteps. He was “self-driven”. Scott always felt his son merely liked the sports he played, including baseball at a national level.
“I think he just tolerated the sport so he could be with his teammates,” Scott said. I think that’s the kind of guy he was. He just loved the community of players.”
After hockey, Evan Thomas, who’d won top science awards in high school, was hoping for a career in medicine, his dad said.
Thomas said that before Christmas he spoke with the team’s head coach, Darcy Haugan, who was also killed in the crash, about whether there would be any trades for the second half of the season.
“Darcy just said, ‘You know, Scott, there’s something about this group of kids that’s special’” he recalled. “He didn’t want to make any changes because they are such a great group of kids.”
Evan’s memorial service will be held next Monday at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
For extended coverage of the Saskatchewan bus tragedy, see Page B2.