Clad in hockey jerseys, hundreds gathered in points across the Central Okanagan to pay tribute to the 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos killed in last weekâs bus crash.
At a vigil in West Âé¶čAV and another in Âé¶čAV, the names of those who died when the team bus hit a semi-trailer en route to a game in Saskatchewan last Friday were read aloud while men, women and children bowed their heads in grief and let their tears flow.
In Âé¶čAV, members of the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy released green and yellow balloons into the sky, each representing a victim of the crash. Around 500 people attended the vigil at Prospera Place.
Donna Macdonell, a Âé¶čAV resident who attended the vigil in Âé¶čAV, belongs to a family of hockey players.
âMy husband played hockey until he was 52. Weâve got a son, 46, whoâs still playing hockey, his son is in minor hockey. We love hockey and of course this has just been devastating,â she said.
âWe are overwhelmed with loss and grief,â said Rev. Don Richmond, at the second of two vigils he spoke at, before offering a prayer.
Warriorsâ head coach and GM Rylan Ferster pointed out that the tragedy plays on all the fears of parents who put their children on buses to play sports, as well as team members themselves.
Itâs something he knows all too well.
Ferster was not only born and raised in the prairie province, he played with the Broncos as a 16-year-old rookie during the 1985-86 season.
He also played three years with the Nipawin Hawks, the team the Broncos were travelling to play in an SJHL playoff game when their bus collided with a truck.
âIâve been on that road many times, I know exactly where it happened,â said Ferster, who was born in nearby Prince Albert, Sask.
âItâs been tough. I canât imagine what itâs like for people back home. I know how I feel two provinces away and itâs just devastating. Iâve talked to a lot of people back home and theyâre reeling, some of them canât even talk about it.â
Support for those who are hurting nearby and afar is why the country banded together to grieve.
âWe play together, we laugh together and we cry together,â said MP Dan Albas at the West Âé¶čAV vigil for Humboldt Saskatchewan Thursday night.
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