I couldn’t let this day go by without posting something for my friends from the North. My heart goes out to you Canada, the Humboldt Broncos Hockey Club and the community these young men were from; and may the injured heal quickly.
In case you didn’t hear, 15 people died after a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team collided with a semi-trailer unit include 10 players, the bus driver, two coaches, a volunteer statistician and a broadcaster.
© 2026 – SoulSequel
19 responses to “Condolences to Canada”
Canada is grieving this issue from coast to coast.
Interestingly, at least to me, many are also reaching out to the truck driver that ran into the bus. No one knows the circumstances and no one probably ever will but it is a tragedy for everyone involved.
It’s probably hard for many Americans to understand what hockey means to Canadians, but its like baseball for some of you, basketball for some of you and football for some of you. For us, hockey really is a part of our fabric and that is why this is so hard for many, because it is so easy to empathize with something you are connected to in some tangible way. Many of us are parents of kids who played organized hockey. Many of us were in the stands at 6 in the morning encouraging our kids to do their best, learn the value of team play and find that “thing” that keeps you pushing although your lungs are in pain and your legs are giving out.
Thanks for your expression of sympathy. I know I am not Canada, but I am Canadian so maybe that qualifies me to say thank you. I personally appreciate the fact that I know you sincerely mean it.
@spitfire3dc I definitely know how much hockey means to your country. I am wearing my We The North tee-shirt today.
@Gina Cool! That’s more the line for the fan kingdom supporting the Raptors who btw are first in the East…Celtics are strong and LeBron is in the way, but playoffs should be exciting.
Because we only have one team in the bigs for basketball and baseball each team basically becomes national for us. It’s like Olympics for us. Blue Jays have caps with our maple leaf on it that they wear sometimes.
@spitfire3dc I bought this tee at the Raptors team store in Toronto. Once Seattle gets their basketball team back, we will have to take that slogan from you because we will be the NBA team that is furthest north.
@Gina No can do. Trademarked. You can go with “We the Norther”, but for originality’s sake I’d go with BOOM Basketball.
@spitfire3dc Sonic BOOM Basketball because The Seattle Supersonics will be back ….some day. Sounds like we are getting a NHL team before that happens. That will be super for games against the Vancouver Canucks.
Much appreciated. It’s as @spitfire3dc says. Hockey is such a huge part of our national fabric.
Plus our media and police operate differently than in the US. It will probably be years before we know the particulars about what exactly happened, or what the outcome might be.
That is apparently a very deadly intersection that has seen tragedy before.
@griz Yes, your country certainly handles the press differently.
Is there a way to make that intersection less deadly? Why is it so deadly?
@Gina The trucker must have run the stop sign, complicated by the blind spot to oncoming traffic from his left. He had the stop sign. The bus didn’t. It’s still questionable about definitively why, but if you have ever driven on the Prairies you might understand about potential problems. Usually you can see so far over the flat landscape that its easy to let your attention drift.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-intersection-where-humbolt-broncos-bus-crashed-has-claimed-lives/
@Gina
From the aerial photo it looks like a windrow of trees on private property blocks visibility. But on the open Prairie you can see vehicles approaching intersections four miles before they get there.
If it had been a four way stop or frilly traffic circle, that might have prevented it even if one person blew the stop sign.
But no matter what we construct or signs we post, human factors are still going to figure large. Part of professional driver training is the assumption that others are not going to stop. This is especially drilled into bus drivers who are responsible for human lives.
But after years of nothing happening, that extra expenditure of effort gets tiring.
wow. 15 people died in an eyeblink, just trying to get to their destination
@Jear77 Yes, it can end so quickly.
You would probably be interested in this Gina:
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/humboldt-broncos-strazstrong-fundraiser-supports-ryan-straschnitzki
One of the surviving players, who is paralyzed from the neck down is already talking about returning to the game to play sledge hockey at the Olympics. Un-believable in this day when a ball player goes on the DL for a blister.
He’s already got a visit from our Prime Minister. Some interesting points mentioned.
@spitfire3dc Thank you. Paralyzed…puts tears in my eyes. Great spirit that kid has.
I heard the other day there are 27 colleges in the US that give athletic scholarships to disabled athletes.
On a baseball note. People make fun of them, but how about standing in a box with a 90 mile hour ball is coming at you, if and when it hits you; you stay in the game. You know that hurts like a son of a bitch. If a pitcher has a blister on their pitching hand, it’s almost impossible to pitch.
@Gina fair points, but try to imagine getting hit with a frozen hockey puck. I think Charra holds the record with 108 mph (175 kph).
Truth is though, I would be terrified in a batters box. I have seem 70 in a batting cage and had to start swinging before the ball even released. I have no clue how anybody can swing that bat around fast enough
@spitfire3dc
I relate to the hockey experience.
We were poor enough growing up that even basic hockey equipment to play a game of shinny with, was not feasible. So I never played.
Until one time as a youth at our church. The older boys always rented a rink afterwards to play some hockey and the younger teens went along and just sort of hung out. They were short a player . . . and somehow, in my storm of early teen emotions . . . I submitted to standing in.
I didn’t know it was to be goalie! My skating was marginal at best. I was wearing someone else’s reeking hockey equipment, several sizes too large for me.
And then the game sort of degraded into the older boys lining up and drilling their best shots at the goalie!
Yikes! Talk about a memory burned into the brain! Even through the padding, the shots hurt like hell. But I was determined (for some reason) to show them I was a good sport.
(I’ll have to psychoanalyze that one with the new information I’m gleaning in the U of T psyche lectures!)
@spitfire3dc @griz Humboldt Strong.
@Gina big movement going on here #putyoursticksout
People are putting hockey sticks by their front doors. Also leaving them by the streets to suggest that people drive carefully. Quite the presence at the moment. They’re showing up everywhere. Yesterday and today was Jersey Day across Canada as another sign of support.
@spitfire3dc That is so cool. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing.