TRIBUTE TO JUNIOR A BROTHERS
Broncos to be honoured at RBC Cup
The RBC Cup will honour the Humboldt Broncos in many ways.
The five-team national Junior A tournament, hosted by the Chilliwack Chiefs at Prospera Centre this year, starts Saturday. Broncos president Kevin Garinger and assistant general manager Jason Neville are to take part in the opening ceremonies.
The Humboldt team bus was on its way to a playoff game against the Nipawin Hawks on April 6 when it collided with a semi-trailer near Armley, Sask. Sixteen people died and 13 were injured.
“It will be an honour to welcome Kevin and Jason to Chilliwack for the opening weekend of the tournament,” RBC Cup host committee co-chair Ken Popove said in a news release. “May 12 will be an opportunity for our community, as well as representatives from junior hockey across Canada, to come together in a show of love and support for the Humboldt team.”
The Chiefs will be joined at the RBC by rivals, the Wenatchee ( Wash.) Wild. Other teams participating are the Wellington (Ont.) Dukes, Ottawa Jr. Senators and Steinbach (Man.) Pistons.
The Chiefs and Wild play in the 7 p.m. game on Saturday that follows the opening ceremonies.
Along with having Garinger and Neville on hand, the Chiefs and other event organizers such as Hockey Canada have decided to make sure the tournament will display #HumboldtStrong on rink boards and ice graphics, have players from the five teams wear a decal on their helmets and coaches wear a lapel pin, and hand out green #HumboldtStrong T-shirts to every fan who attends Saturday.
There will be kiosks on the concourse at Prospera promoting organ donor registration and blood donation. Humboldt defenceman Logan Boulet, who died in the crash, signed his donor card just weeks earlier and saved six lives. That prompted a spike in donor registration, with nearly 100,000 signing up in April, according to Canadian Blood Services.
The Wild beat the Prince George Spruce Kings in five games to become the BCHL’s first Americanbased champion since the 1978-79 Bellingham Blazers. The Wild then defeated the Alberta champion Spruce Grove Saints in five games to claim a spot in the RBC Cup.
Wenatchee features defenceman Slava Demin, ranked 40th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting ’s final poll for the 2018 draft. That was the second highest for any BCHLer, behind Penticton Vees defenceman Jonny Tychonick, who was 36th.
Chilliwack was ousted in seven games in the first round of the BCHL playoffs by Prince George.
The Chiefs fired coach Jason Tatarnic last Friday and replaced him with assistant Brian Maloney. On Monday, the Chiefs announced Cam Keith would be an assistant coach. Keith was head coach of the Trail Smoke Eaters and led them to the BCHL semifinals, where they lost to Wenatchee. He was fired by Trail days later.