It was a busy week for the Humboldt Broncos and their families, as they spent the week in Las Vegas at the National Hockey League (NHL) Awards, and in Dallas for the NHL Draft.
The week saw late Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan awarded the Willie O’Ree Award at the NHL Awards on June 20 (see page 14 for the full story) and the Broncos organization awarded the E.J. McGuire Award at the NHL Draft on June 22.
Ten surviving members of the Broncos made the trip including Jacob Wassermann, Derek Patter, Xavier Labelle, Kaleb Dahlgren, Bryce Fiske, Ryan Straschnitzki, Tyler Smith, Brayden Camrud, Matthieu Gomercic, and Graysen Cameron, while three others did not make the trip.
Nick Shumlanski announced on his Facebook that he made the decision not to attend, as he continues to work through his own healing process, while Morgan Gobeil and Layne Matechuk could not attend as they remain in hospital.
Having ten members of the accident together marked the first time since that fateful April 6 evening that they were all together.
The Broncos were one of three groups honoured during the NHL Awards, with the Stoneman Douglas High School hockey team, and survivors and first responders from the Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas also being honoured.
Prior to the NHL Awards, the players joined together with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the NHL’s Andrew Ference, and the NHLPA’s Chris Campoli, for a press conference.
While the conference was called primarily to announce a special event coming to Humboldt on Aug. 24 (see page 1 for the full story), the players were also introduced to the media
Each of the ten players were introduced on stage by Friedman, with some given time to say a few words.
The first of the players to speak was forward Patter, who announced his intentions to return to the team in the fall.
“I’m really excited for the opportunity just to help the community, and help a lot of communities get better through this whole tragedy.”
The 20-year-old, who was acquired in a trade with La Ronge last summer, noted the organization was a class act, making his decision to return as easy one.
“Everything was top notch, everything about the community, everybody involved just made it feel like home. It was my second home and it’ll forever have a place in my heart.”
Patter joins Camrud, who has also previously announced his desire to return, pending a healthy recovery.
While Patter was providing good news for Broncos fans on the ice, Labelle was giving the Broncos fans plenty of reasons to cheer off of it, as it was announced that despite spending two months to the day in hospital, the 18-year-old defenseman is expected to graduate on time this month.
Another good bit of news came from Graysen Camerson, who despite suffering relatively serious injuries in the accident, he also plans on returning to the ice in the fall, but this time as a coach.
After injuries forced the 19-year-old Broncos forward to end his playing career, the Olds, Alta. native will be making the switch to coaching, as he is set to join his former Midget AAA team in Red Deer as an assistant coach.
“I’m really excited. It was a great opportunity when my former coaches asked me and I just can’t wait,” he said at the conference.
Humboldt’s Jacob Wassermann also made a brief announcement on stage, talking first about meeting Rick Hanson.
“(Rick) just told me to live my life the same way I was before. There’s no limitation in the world as long as I don’t put them on myself. He was a big inspiration to me and helped me get passed the hard parts of accepting having a disability.”
Wassermann then announced plans to one day start playing sledge hockey, joining teammate Ryan Straschnitzki, who already had made the same announcement.
“Definitely can’t get out of hockey. I’ve been in it my whole life and looking forward to hopefully playing sledge hockey some day,” noted Wassermann.
After the June 19 press conference was over the Broncos were met by countless NHL players including P.K. Subban, Anze Kopitar, Roberto Luongo and Matthew Barzal among countless others.
The Broncos were then brought back on June 20 for a special ceremony during the awards.
The special ceremony came near the end of the awards, and began with a more than five-minute video, featuring interviews with some of the players.
After this each of the players were introduced and brought on stage one at a time.
The final member of the team to be introduced was assistant captain Kaleb Dahlgren, who stepped up to the microphone.
Dahlgren began his speech by mentioning each of his three teammates who could not attend, before thanking every one for their support.
“We want to thank everyone around the world who has given their time, donations, messages and even the little things such as putting out their hockey stick on their doorstep to show support for us. A very special thank you to the NHL for everything they’ve done for us and for their support to the Humboldt Bronco organization every way they possibly can,” he said.
“We are very privileged to be here tonight to support Darcy and those 15 others who are not here with us anymore. For they will always be loved in our hearts and cherished forever. We are extremely thankful we get to present an award that means a lot to the hockey community.”
The players then remained on stage as Willie O’Ree joined them to announce Haugan as the Willie O’Ree Award winner.
The week did not stop there for the Broncos, who then traveled south to Dallas for the NHL Draft, where they were honoured once again.
“In 2015 the (NHL) created the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence named after the beloved coach, NHL Scouting Director, and innovator who dedicated his life to supporting young players. This award is presented annually for exemplifying the commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness and athleticism that were E.J.’s core values,” noted NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the draft.
“Tonight the NHL, and its 31 member clubs gather to salute an organization that lives those values. It is my honour to present the 2018 E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence to the Humboldt Broncos.”
The award was accepted by Broncos president Kevin Garinger, who thanked the NHL, and NHL central scouting for the award, before noting he was honoured to accept the award on behalf of the great leaders within the Broncos organization, including head coach and general manager Darcy Haugan, who Garinger described as the face, and heart and soul of the organization.
“And I accept this award on behalf of his assistant coach Mark Cross, and his trainer Dayna Brons and all the staff who passed away, and all ten of our athletes who are no longer with us. And I accept this award on behalf of the 13 athletes who remain with us,” he noted, saying each of them were true leaders on and off the ice and will continue to lead the world.
“As the Humboldt Broncos organization, as a community of Humboldt, as a province of Saskatchewan, as the countries of Canada, the USA and across this world they will continue to help us remain Humboldt Strong and they will continue to ensure that we can all help in the healing process as we are all Humboldt Broncos.”
