Assistant coach Chris Beaudry wasn’t on the team bus when it was involved in a tragic highway collision that claimed the lives of 15 members of the Humbodlt Broncos Junior A hockey team Friday evening.
This is the only positive that Corner Brook’s Blair Robertson can take away from a tragedy that he says has tugged at the heartstrings of not only people in Saskatchewan, but people from all over the country.
Robertson moved to Melfort, Sask., in 2010 and got wind that a team in the local senior hockey league was looking for a few players. A co-worker provided the Corner Brook native with a phone number for Beaudry, and Robertson was pretty impressed when the total stranger went out of his way to get him a game of hockey.
Robertson played only eight games under Beaudry, but the coach left a favourable impression on a 20-year-old who was trying to adjust to a new community miles away from the comforts of home.
When Robertson heard the Broncos’ team bus had been involved in a horrific crash, it didn’t hit him right away that there could be any connection to the team, but then he saw a picture of the team being shared in various mediums and recognized Beaudry.
“I’m glad we still have somebody like Chris in this world,” Robertson said Monday from Melfort. “His commitment to hockey … I was just a stranger to him and he went jumping through the hoops to get me a game and he always made you feel welcome.”
No words can make the pain go away. It’s a story that has everybody across the country reeling in hurt because the lives of so many promising young people have been snuffed out in one horrific episode on a highway that these guys travelled over week after week.
“It’s a grey day here,” Robertson said of the mood in communities throughout Saskatchewan as people try to come to terms with the grief.
Hockey is life in Saskatchewan, so Robertson understands why people are having such a difficult time. It’s a game that everybody loves, and it brings people together in a strong bond, and he’s seeing that strength as people try to support one another in the healing process.
“It’s just an empty pit in your stomach,” he said.
He plans to contact Beaudry in the next couple of weeks to let him know he has been thinking of him, and he knows the coach will be there for anybody who needs his help dealing with a tragedy that has turned everybody’s life upside down.
“They’re not just losing hockey players. They are losing human beings,” he said. “These lives are never going to be the same.”
He says Beaudry is a good man, and he couldn’t think of a better person to help make some sense out of a tragedy that may take a long time for anybody to wrap their head around.
“He can help put the pieces back together,” Robertson said.
He said people in Saskatchewan are built to deal with tough times and he has no doubt they will get through this latest tragedy. He knows it will just take some time to heal, and the bond that tied the team together will always remain intact, so he hopes people find comfort in knowing so.
His heart goes out to the players and coaches who died and players who are hurting over the loss of their teammates.
He is saddened that a bunch of young men died on a bus heading to the rink to play a game they loved. Bus trips are one of the best parts of playing any sport, and every player has a story or two to tell about the fun times spent on the road.
“Some of your best moments of your life are on that bus. I’m sure everybody can relate,” he said.
It will take time for the pain and hurt to go. Nothing anybody can say or do will change anything right now.
Robertson is thankful a man he affectionately knew as Critter is safe and sound.
He joins the rest of the country in mourning the loss of those who died.
