I'm Still Gutted for Humboldt

The tragedy that struck the hockey world Friday night is utterly sickening. 29 people, living the dream one way or another and in a instant, life is either over or derailed.

This hits home quite a bit. I spent parts of six years on a high school football team. Bus trips were almost better than the games itself. Going away to University in Kamloops was hard but I was able to discover new passions.

In my first year at TRU, I had Peter Soberlak as a Sports Physiology professor.  For those of you are unaware, Soberlak was a 1st round selection by the Edmonton Oilers in 1987. He also played for the Swift Current Broncos on the team that had a bus crash in 1986. Four players perished in that tragedy but this one is much worse.

I mention this because I became a huge Junior Hockey fan. I went to 9 Kamloops Blazers games that year. I figured out what I had been missing in my life. I almost wish I had supported my home town junior hockey team back when I was younger. However, we only had a junior B team, a league lower than the BCHL and two leagues below the WHL.

In Canada, between the three leagues, most cities have a team. The smaller the community the more the team brings people together. It's what people do on a Friday night between September to April. It's the equivalent to High School Football in Texas.

Humboldt has a population of just over 5,000 people. In comparison, typical arenas at this level would be between 1-2 thousand people and therefore, during any hockey sellout crowds would have between 20-40% of the cities population at the game.


The League has yet to announce what will happen to the League Final. I just feel so fortunate to go to my day job today. No one is safe, anyone can die tomorrow. Friday night was a good reminder that the life we have should be enjoyed every second of the day. 

Today was Jersey Day across Canada, the overwhelming support has been amazing, Ten Million has
been raised by the Go Fund Me Page that is unprecedented. Today someone told me about the story behind the hockey stick on the porch thing that has been going on the last week and it was awesome!

Something good will come up from this accident. Life has a way of turning the worst possible thing into a positive. That doesn't mean the healing process will be easy. Nothing in life is easy that means something to us.