AMHERST, N.S. – Corey Crocker spent much of the weekend reaching out to former teammates and players.
The crash that killed 15 members of the Humboldt Broncos team and staff brought back a lot of memories for the former coach and GM of the Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers. It was only 11 years ago when the Ramblers’ team bus nearly met a similar fate to what happened in Saskatchewan on Friday night.
“We were coming back from a game in Yarmouth. We were a couple of hours into the trip and most of the guys were asleep. Next thing you know there were windows smashed and chairs were ripped apart. We were 15 or 20 feet from going over an embankment. There would’ve been fatalities. It was very scary,” Crocker said. “I was thrown across the bus and the first thing I did was do a rollcall. You were hoping everyone would answer they were OK, but you were terrified that someone wouldn’t be. It was the scariest situation ever.
“I can never imagine what that town or what that team, and the teammates who survived, are going through. It’s very disturbing and I can’t get it off my mind.”
When the Ramblers bus crashed it was the second accident involving a Maritime Junior Hockey League team that season. Several weeks before, the Woodstock Slammers bus went off the road in a snowstorm in western Prince Edward Island. Several players were shaken up in the crash and assistant coach Bobby Vail was nearly killed.
"When tragedy happens, you rekindle your relationship with a lot of former players." Corey Crocker
Crocker said he has struggled with what happened on Friday.
“When tragedy happens, you rekindle your relationship with a lot of former players,” Crocker said. “This isn’t supposed to happen. I started traveling on the bus when I was 15-years-old playing junior hockey and you know what? When you’re that age you're invincible. You climb the steps and get on the bus, it was your comfort zone. You play cards, you think about the game. You never thought of crashing. The safest place to be was on that bus.”
When he started coaching it was a completely different mindset because you become responsible for the players.
Ramblers coach and GM Jeff LeBlanc gets emotional when talking about the crash.
“It’s been a rough few days around my house, I get choked up just talking about it,” said LeBlanc. “I tried to watch the vigil last night and it was something I couldn’t get through. It hits so close to home.”
LeBlanc said he can’t help but think about his team and last week’s awards banquet.
“Half of that table would be gone and it really hit hard,” he said. “Looking at that coach with those two young boys, who are the same age as my boys. I think about my wife and the times I’ve called to say we’re leaving this place, or that place. You never think you might not get home. You know things like this can happen but you never think they will.”
LeBlanc said he has always appreciated the job the club’s bus driver does for the team while he also said coaches, and players, across Canada are part of a fraternity. While they may be enemies and competitors on the ice, they’re all doing something they love to do.
“Hockey is a family and the hockey world lost some of their own.” Kody Orr
“We’re all the same type of people,” he said. “We’re competitors, but at the same time we’re like a family. It has been a hard few days and it’s going to be hard for a little while. It’s going to take some time to heal.”
The Ramblers, LeBlanc said, will be making a financial contribution to the Broncos while books for condolences have been set up at the Ramblers office at 26A Industrial Park Dr. and at Furlong-Jones Funeral Home at 70 Church St. in Amherst.
The books will be forwarded to the families.
Former Rambler captain Kody Orr said his five years with the Ramblers were some of the best in his life. Never once did he think what happened in Humboldt could happen to him.
“It’s crazy how much you take for granted playing junior hockey, being able to go to the rink and play the sport you love with your best friends every day,” he said. “Five of the best years of my life were spent in that uniform, and I still cherish that time every single day. That’s why it hit me so hard hearing about the tragedy that struck rural Saskatchewan and the Humboldt Broncos. Although I obviously don’t know anyone involved with the team personally, it’s hard not to feel a small connection as a former junior A hockey player in Canada.
“Hockey is a family and the hockey world lost some of their own.”
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
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