Immense Tragedy in the Hockey World

scotian1 said:

As bad as the first photo of the bus was, this one is simply unbelievable. The bus was literally torn apart, split in half right down the middle. It is remarkable anyone survived.

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Did that split happen from the crash or could the rescue and/or investigative teams have cut it open? I can’t see how the bus could be thrown all the way over there off the road and then fall open like that.

Donated what I could to the GFM. I don’t know how you make it past something like this as a survivor, or as the driver of the trailer.

Tell the people you care about that you love them, it can all be over so quickly.

I can't tell you how many times I rode on a bus just like that in juniors and in college. My heart goes out to all those affected. Such an awful tragedy.

Incredible how much impact this has on our entire province. My niece's husband taught three of the boys. Xavier LaBelle was best friends with kid across the street.

One of the most positive things is the lack of speculation about cause. People really want an explanation, but are loathe to even suggest scenarios as to how it happened.

There are dozens of these buses on the highways the province every night of the week.

Is the vigil on US TV?

scotian1 said:

In Canada being carried by CBC News Network, CTV News Network and TSN Sorts Network

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Also Sportsnet West, Pacific, and One.

Link here, can't guarantee it'll work outside Canada.

reggiecleveland said:

Incredible how much impact this has on our entire province. My niece's husband taught three of the boys. Xavier LaBelle was best friends with kid across the street.

One of the most positive things is the lack of speculation about cause. People really want an explanation, but are loathe to even suggest scenarios as to how it happened.

There are dozens of these buses on the highways the province every night of the week.

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National Post has some more detail in photos, but I don't see how the semi driver isn't at fault. He blew a stop sign with a flashing red light, on an intersection that he couldn't see to the south and killed 15 people.

Anyone who has sports age children must have had their stomachs knot up hearing about this. Our kids sign up for local teams, travel teams, clinics, camps, etc. They travel with neighbors, friends, teammates, coaches. Some kids area constantly on the road chasing their sport(s). And the athletes at the level of the Broncos are even moreso.

I can't begin to put myself in the shoes of any of these families, billet families, coaches. I'm feeling an enormous amount of sadness for all those touched by this accident.

RetractableRoof said:

Anyone who has sports age children must have had their stomachs knot up hearing about this. Our kids sign up for local teams, travel teams, clinics, camps, etc. They travel with neighbors, friends, teammates, coaches. Some kids area constantly on the road chasing their sport(s). And the athletes at the level of the Broncos are even moreso.

I can't begin to put myself in the shoes of any of these families, billet families, coaches. I'm feeling an enormous amount of sadness for all those touched by this accident.

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This is where I am. It really hits closer to home as my daughter plays travel and school basketball. Truly feel awful for everyone affected up there.

Here's a bit more on the accident scene from the Globe and Mail

Most chilling to me is this photo from the article.
Final scene ends across the road, but there was no way either driver would have seen one another with those trees there.
Tractor-Trailer had a Stop sign and a flashing red light. Conditions were cold day, dry road and still light.
Happened at about 4:45pm, so I can't think the sun was a factor. Shadows indicate it would be very close to what you see in this photo, but I don't know that for sure.



I know I'm reiterating myself over and over, but this just sucks and unless there was some sort of medical or mechanical issue on the semi driver or the semi itself, looks to have been completely avoidable.

That corner also had 6 people die in 1997, when a semi, heading south, hit a car crossing through.


Silver lining that may come from this, is that I've read that in Ontario at least (and I assume all across Canada), people have been filling out their organ donor cards and have been inquiring what else they need to do, as did Logan Boulet, who had only filled out his card a few weeks before when he turned 21 and stressed to his family the importance of it to him.

So a greater potential of life saving, quality of life improvements and even letting people live longer may come from all of this. I've always filled out my organ donor card card and I suggest that everyone else does too.

I can just imagine cars flying up and down those highways given how flat the land is.

So it’s clear that the tractor trailer didn’t stop, like at all, right? Otherwise I can’t see how it caused that much force in the western direction. Just asking because I’ve not read anything that states that.

uncannymanny said:

So it’s clear that the tractor trailer didn’t stop, like at all, right? Otherwise I can’t see how it caused that much force in the western direction. Just asking because I’ve not read anything that states that.

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That's what it looks like to me. The only tires marks that seem to be at the scene appear to be from the bus being pushed across the road.
But this is speculation on my part.

I'm hoping that there is a full report from the RCMP crash reconstructionists at some point, but probably not anytime soon.

reggiecleveland said:

Incredible how much impact this has on our entire province. My niece's husband taught three of the boys. Xavier LaBelle was best friends with kid across the street.

One of the most positive things is the lack of speculation about cause. People really want an explanation, but are loathe to even suggest scenarios as to how it happened.

There are dozens of these buses on the highways the province every night of the week.

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In a gut wrenching twist, the coroner has announced that one fo the players was misidentified. Xavier LaBelle survived and Parker Tobin has been confirmed dead.

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/xavier-labelle-and-parker-tobin-ron-maclean-on-the-tragic-mix-up-of-the-two-humboldt-players/

Has anyone seen any photos from the scene that were NOT from a helicopter? Curious if there are any on the ground photos out there. Obviously, post removal of victims?

There were a couple from passerby vehicles, but really nothing different than the aerial shots.
They were of the accident, so didn't show the trees that obstructed both driver's views of each other.

Just a couple different angles of the bus and we didn't realize the top had been ripped right off until the aerial shots.

santadevil said:

That's what it looks like to me. The only tires marks that seem to be at the scene appear to be from the bus being pushed across the road.
But this is speculation on my part.

I'm hoping that there is a full report from the RCMP crash reconstructionists at some point, but probably not anytime soon.

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I'll first say this first, that as a parent,and particularly as a hockey parent, this shakes me to the core. Hockey playoffs at any level are the joy of the season and it's impossible to imagine the anguish of the families and friends. It is no surprise the hockey community has rallied as it has. There is an unmistakable connection with anyone who has been part of the game.

I haven't seen anything other then the aerial photos from the two angles, but I don't think the visible tracks are from the bus being pushed. It seems pretty clear to me that the bus t-boned the semi at the mid-point of the trailer. There is no remaining front end of the bus. I saw some first on scene witness account stating that the roof of the bus was already mostly off and wasn't removed by the first responders. As horrendous as this tragedy is, it's practically a miracle that anyone survived. The damage to the semi is largely just the twisted frame of the 1st trailer (it was a tandem flatbed). The cab is on it's side and it obviously did not impact the bus. Most are condemning the semi driver for running the stop sign. I'm reserving judgment on that because it is possible that he stopped and either didn't see the bus down the road or thought he had time to cross the intersection. A fully loaded double trailer is going to take some time to go from stop to across the intersection. The bus could have legitimately been a far enough distance down the road and travelling at a high enough speed that it wasn't seen by the truck driver as he entered the intersection.
This is the google maps street view of the intersection. It gives you some limited sense that the bus might have blended into the horizon if it was far enough away.

I think everyone wants to make sense of how this can happen, but this may very well end up having no satisfactory answers.

Reading RIFan and PMing with reggiecleveland, I believe they are both right, that the bus hit the semi.

But looking at those pic's, the semi had be moving at a decent speed to end up across the road in it's final resting place. Also the bus driver did not slam on the brakes...there is no skid mark at all to show that either vehicle tried to stop (and wouldn't make sense for the semi).

To me, that looks like high speed vs. high speed. Bus is a lot flimsier that a fully loaded semi and if it hit low on the trailer, that would explain why the bus was basically cut in half.

Also, remembering my old physics lessons, objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Seeing where those bags of peat moss ended up, to the northwest, indicates that semi was moving through the intersection at a decent speed.

Good points. I’ve been going off of every report that I’ve read that says the truck t-boned the bus. Although you can’t see the side of the bus that would’ve been struck, the damage and placements make much more sense the other way.

Becoming an organ donor is one of the easiest ways to be noble beyond words. Once you are dead, and your body no longer has any use to you whatsoever, pieces of it can be used to improve the lives of other people. These pieces can be put in them and do anything from eliminate a chronic and disabling condition to directly save the life of someone with a failing organ.

I'm not demanding that you become an organ donor. The thought of being literally carved up for parts is a shocking thought, but you will never experience it, and your gift will allow for the continuation of other people's lives in your time of tragedy. Organ donation is literally the silver lining to your tragic death...other people will get to live.

What I'm asking is that you consider it. The "cost" of organ donation is simple. After your death, or the determining of doctors of your eminent death, your organs are removed from your body and immediately transported into the bodies of compatible donors. Those pieces of you will not be burned/buried with you, but your ashes will not know the difference. The people who live because of you will.

50/50 on Thursday going towards Humboldt:
https://www.nhl.com/bruins/community/foundation-humboldt-broncos

edit:Raffle for a suite as well:
https://www.nhlalumniassociation.org/Fundraiser

scotian1 said:

There were young men from Sask, Ontario. Alberta, B.C. Manitoba, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon and California on the team.

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Scotian (or anyone else who knows) can you explain what Junior A means? This is not a minors team for an NHL club, correct?

Junior A is basically a step below the CHL level play. Most players that end up in Junior A are playing more towards a college scholarship. Very few jump from Junior A to CHL.

Sometimes CHL players end up playing for a season or two in the CHL and then get pushed back into Junior A due to age or roster crunch.

Some Junior A players do get drafted by NHL teams, but not nearly as many as CHL players.

Biggest name that I recall that recemtly played any significant time in the SJHL was Jaden Schwartz, who played only one season in 2008-09 and won rookier of the year honours. I'm sure there are others, but he's the one I know.

So how are teams put together? Do they have tryouts, are you invited to join, etc.

Matthieu Gomeric, survivor, speaks about the accident now that he's bee released from the hospital

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/i-thought-it-was-a-nightmare-479230993.html

Also, listenting on the radio today, one of the first responder doctor's, Dr. Mark Wahba, was flown to the scene in a STARS helicopter from Saskatoon. He grew up in my hometown and his Dad was a doctor in my hometown. Mark is a couple years older than me, but is friends with a couple guys from my rec team. He told them it was a very tough weekend.

scotian1 said:

On this mornings news, a father of one of the victims was interviewed on national television. He said he arrived on the accident scene along with another parent who had been travelling to the game in their own vehicle and RCMP told them that the driver of the truck told them he had not seen the stop sign as the sun had been in his eyes. He also said he did not believe that reason why the truck driver had not stopped.

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I don't believe that from the semi driver at all. Sun was way to high in the sky at that point to even be in the cab of the semi. I was driving in Regina yesterday at 5:15pm and I had to look way up to even see it. Crash happened around 4:45pm on Friday.

Apparantely the semi driver is 30 years old and only passed his 15 days of driver training two weeks prior. Not sure if he had any past experience driving. He is from Calgary.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-company-that-owned-truck-involved-in-humboldt-crash-suspended/

scotian1 said:

On this mornings news, a father of one of the victims was interviewed on national television. He said he arrived on the accident scene along with another parent who had been travelling to the game in their own vehicle and RCMP told them that the driver of the truck told them he had not seen the stop sign as the sun had been in his eyes. He also said he did not believe that reason why the truck driver had not stopped.

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I hope they're checking his text records. Seriously, if was on his phone he should do time.