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HUMBOLDT, Sask. — On a chilly, overcast day in Humboldt, 160 nights after bus and semi collided at a rural Saskatchewan intersection, two groups of boys pulled on their jerseys and played hockey.
Before this wee miracle of a game, Humboldt Broncos players passed through a dressing room door with a sign above the frame — a message from Darcy Haugan to his team.
“It’s a great day to be a Bronco, gentlemen,” reads the sign, green with white letters. From that little message came a walk to the ice surface, a sold-out arena, a national television audience, a hockey game.
Haugan, the Broncos’ head coach and general manager, used that phrase almost daily before he died in the April 6 crash that killed 16 people on the Broncos’ bus.
A little more than five months later, the Broncos — rebuilt the best they could, in the tight time frame they were given — played their season opener against the Nipawin Hawks, losing 2-1 in a tightly-played scrap.
“I think it’s a miracle that we’re to the point where we’re getting a team together here,” says Broncos’ president Jamie Brockman. “To think that the regular season is starting, from where we were five, six months ago ... it’s quite amazing we got to this point.”
The Broncos placed an equipment order within weeks of the crash. The man who distributed their equipment is Mark Doepker, the owner of Universal Sports, which is tucked into downtown Humboldt. Doepker is a season-ticket holder who has cheered for the Broncos since they formed in 1970.
“Sadness and sorrow ... there’s anxiety, there’s enthusiasm,” he said in the afternoon, while working in his store. “I think you could just about cover the whole gamut of emotions. The tragedy, then getting the game underway — getting things off to a new start. There’s that excitement.”
Two players on that April 6 bus suited up for the Broncos Wednesday night. Brayden Camrud and Derek Patter dressed across from each other. Each occupied the centre stall on his own side of the room, flanked by five per side.
A new coach, Nathan Oystrick, walked on the floor between those two walls, new players populating the room.
As puck-drop neared, players skated to the spotlight one by one. They saved Camrud and Patter for last. Fans rose to their feet. Patter put his right arm around Camrud’s shoulder, and Camrud his left arm around Patter.
Eight more of last year’s survivors congregated on the ice.
From there, Patter and Camrud went to centre ice for the ceremonial faceoff. Tyler Smith, who emerged from that crash, dropped the puck, flanked by the whole crew. They all enjoyed one more moment on the ice — one last moment on the ice — as the arena got louder, louder, louder.
Then a moment of silence for the 16 who didn’t make it.
Then, puck-drop and hockey, and a return to as much normalcy as everybody could muster.
I think it’s a miracle that we’re to the point where we’re getting a team together here.”
Broncos’ president Jamie Brockman