Coach prepares team for emotional return

HUMBOLDT, SASK. — The head coach of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team says he’s not sure what to expect when his players get on the ice Wednesday night for their first regular-season game since the team was involved in a deadly bus crash.

Nathan Oystrick said he hopes it’s just like any other game and that the team is focused on playing its best.

But he said he knows it could be tough, especially for the players who are returning to the Broncos this year.

“I don’t know how our players are going to react,” Oystrick told an afternoon news conference in Humboldt on Tuesday.

“Obviously the returning players — it is going to be very emotional for them. Either way it is going to be an emotional game. And I am hoping that once the puck drops, our guys are focused and ready to play hockey.”

The opponent Wednesday is the Nipawin Hawks, the same Jr. A hockey team the Broncos were on their way to play April 6 when their bus collided with a tractortrailer at a rural intersection.

Sixteen people, including 10 players, were killed and 13 players were injured. Only two of the survivors — Derek Patter and Brayden Camrud — are back on the team this season and were to play in Wednesday’s sold-out game.

Four survivors have signed to play hockey at post-secondary institutions in Ontario and Prince Edward Island this fall. Two remain in hospital suffering from brain injuries, while two others were paralyzed in the crash.

This year’s team includes four players who weren’t on the bus but had played some games with the Broncos during the 2017-18 season: Mitchell Girolami, Reagan Poncelet, Zach McIntyre and Kade Olsen.

The Broncos will be back on the team bus Friday for a game in Nipawin.