Local hockey community mourns Canadian team involved in deadly crash



EVERETT - An emotional moment of silence at the Everett Silvertips game, honoring the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Humboldt Broncos whose coaches and players were involved in a tragic accident Friday night.

The team's bus collided with a semi-truck killing 15 people on the Broncos.

“It just hits close to home. Every time our kids go to an away game, we put our kids on the bus, and on the back of our minds we think of it being a possibility,” said Michelle Wolf, mother of a Silvertips backup goalie.

“My son’s probably tired of me, because I’ve hugged him a lot today,” said Wolf.

Silvertips coach Dennis Williams, who is from Canada, says it has been a tough day.

“One thing I think hits home to all of us, especially is how much time we spend on the bus is how quickly things can change,” said Williams.

Coach Williams says some of the best team memories happen on a bus, it’s a second home that’s a part of hockey life.

Q13 sports anchor Ian Furness remembers traveling on that road as a play-by-play announcer for the Western Hockey League.

"Everyone from a coach to player to a trainer, or a broadcaster has ridden a bus, and often times through western Canada through the prairies on that same particular road,” said Furness.

At the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, the conversation around concession stands was about the Canadian team.

“I was crying this morning when I heard about it, it reminded me of the Swift Current stuff,” said one woman, referencing The Swift Current Broncos bus crash that occurred in December 1986, killing four members of the Swift Current Broncos ice hockey team after their bus hit a patch of black ice.

“There is a hockey community that stretches across borders for sure,” said hockey fan Marko Coady.