The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames came together for something much bigger than the game of hockey.
The team’s head coaches, Todd McLellan and Glen Gulutzan, both with Saskatchewan ties, are in Saskatoon to visit the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos crash survivors.
“The Oilers organization, as well as the Flames with Glen Gulutzan behind us, they thought it was real important that we got here,” McLellan said. “We’re going to try and cheer up a few people up today. It won’t be an easy day for anybody, but it’s well worth our time.”
Friday night’s collision between the Broncos team bus and a tractor-trailer, on a rural highway near Tisdale, SK, killed 15 passengers and sent the remaining 14 to the hospital with various injuries.
Communities across Saskatchewan and Alberta, including St. Albert, where four teens played minor hockey growing up, are mourning the loss of several young lives.
This collision, once again, hit close to home for McLellan, who played and coached in the Saskatoon area.
“I’ve gone through this somewhat before with the Swift Current crash where I’ve lost some friends, some real close friends,” McLellan said. “Having coached there all those years and understanding what the accident meant to that community and how it rallied behind it, but still supports those families – it’s been a tough time.”
The head coaches visited Broncos players at a Saskatoon hospital Sunday. McLellan said he hoped they would ask questions about Connor McDavid and Johnny Gaudreau to get their minds off of their injuries.
“We want to go in and try and cheer them up and make them feel important from the NHL world.”
