Town mourns: 15 die when truck, bus collide

A HOCKEY arena became the epicentre of grief for a small Canadian town on Sunday as friends, relatives, and those who housed the young hockey players gathered to mourn 15 people killed after a semitrailer slammed into a bus carrying a youth hockey team in western Canada.

Fourteen were also injured, some critically, in a collision that left a country, its national sport, and the hockey-obsessed town of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, reeling.

The bus had 29 passengers, including the driver, when it crashed at about 5 p.m. on Friday on Highway 35, police said. Among the dead are Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz, and radio announcer Tyler Bieber.

Residents of this town of less than 6,000 have been leaving flowers, team jerseys, and personal tributes on the steps of the arena’s entrance, forming a makeshift memorial. One tribute included a Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner box, which was a favourite meal of deceased forward Evan Thomas. A bouquet of pink roses adorned the box, which read ‘To Evan, game day special, love, your billet brother and sister, Colten and Shelby’.

While most of the players were from elsewhere in western Canada, they were put up by families in the small town of Humboldt. Billeting families are a large part of junior hockey, with players spending years with host families.

Dennis Locke, his wife, and his three young children came to the arena to hang posters of forward Jaxon Joseph, who is the son of former NHL player Chris Joseph. The Locke family housed Joseph and treated him like a son.

“Best person ever,” Locke said. “Down to earth, loved playing with the kids.”