Deaths hit home hard for Senators centre Smith
BOSTON This has been a difficult weekend for Zack Smith.
The Ottawa Senators centre woke up to the news Friday that 17-year-old Senators fan Jonathan Pitre had died of a rare skin disease. On Saturday came the news that 15 people with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Humboldt Broncos lost their lives and 14 others were injured.
Smith, 30, who was born in Maple Creek, Sask., said his heart goes out to the people in his home province because he knows what hockey teams mean to those small communities.
“It’s been a tough couple of days for the hockey world, a lot of people around the Senators organization and a lot of people back home in Saskatchewan and Western Canada,” Smith said Saturday afternoon at the club’s hotel before the Senators’ final game of the season against the host Boston Bruins.
You could forgive Smith if he was distracted before the game. He spent time in the morning taking a look at the Broncos’ roster to see if he knew anybody involved in the crash because while Saskatchewan encompasses a large area, it is small by nature. It’s the kind of province where everybody knows somebody who knows somebody, and this hit close to home for Smith.
“It’s a large province with a small population,” Smith said.
“There’s a lot of familiar last names with players that I played with over the years and I’m just kind of thinking of them. It’s just unfortunate and the more you talk to people, you know how much it touches the people and how many people are affected by it. It’s a tragedy that goes beyond Saskatchewan — it pretty much affects the whole hockey world.”
Smith knows what hockey means in those tiny communities because there are a lot of nights where the rink is the place to be and it’s the gathering place for the town, where people have a chance to spend time together while taking in a game.
“A lot of those communities, places like Kindersley, Humboldt, Yorkton, Estevan, are SJHL-style towns, aren’t big centres but hockey is what they rely on and what they’re known for,” he said.
“Kids growing up around those areas, their dream is to play for those teams. I just feel for all their parents.
“Maybe their kids weren’t on the team, but you send your kid away at 15, 16 or 17 years old to go play hockey and there’s no way around it, you have to spend time on the bus and cover a lot of ground to go play different teams. I just can’t imagine the worry that goes through some parents’ minds, especially after something as tragic as that one. Your kids are riding the bus and it could have been anyone.
“Hockey in Saskatchewan and Alberta, there’s just a lot of travel and there’s no way around it.”
Smith knows the road to recovery isn’t going to be easy for the people of Humboldt. He spent four years with the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos. On Dec. 30, 1986, four of that team’s players died in a bus crash.
I just can’t imagine the worry that goes through some parents’ minds, especially after something as tragic as that one.
“Playing there, anyone around that league or if you played any time in Swift Current or have been around Swift Current, you know the memorials for those four players that passed away. It’s still fresh in everyone’s minds and we think about it a lot,” Smith said.
“You just don’t expect it to happen again and you hope it doesn’t. It’s just a terrible thing and I can’t imagine what that province is going through with that many people involved in that accident. There’s a lot of people that are touched by it, they’re grieving right now and they’re probably still wondering what’s going to happen.”