Olds Grizzlys president Darcy Dallas says Friday's horrific accident in which 15 people riding a Humboldt Broncos bus were killed and 14 were injured hits close to home, because he knew the coach, Darcy Haugan, who was among those deceased.
"I played hockey with him in university," Dallas told the Albertan. "We played in Northern Michigan together."
He says it was "extremely" painful to hear of all those killed and injured -- including Haugen.
"(It's) way too close to home and way too -- just being involved in hockey, it's a terrible thing that anyone has to hear -- especially the families, all the ones involved. It truly is horrific," he says.
Dallas came up through the ranks, playing junior hockey, etc., so he recalls the days riding the bus to the next game and forming bonds with fellow players.
He says it's going to be difficult for players -- Grizzlys or others -- to get back on the bus in the wake of this crash.
"For sure it would be. That's something that's always in the back of your mind as a player or a coach or whatever when you're on those buses," Dallas says. "You're travelling long distances at times -- in Western Canada especially, when the road conditions may not be the best.
"Obviously, I think the league and the teams are doing the best they can to protect the players as much as possible, but it is one of those things. Even though it's a freak accident, accidents do happen, right? It's something you hope never happens, but sometimes, I guess, they do, unfortunately," he adds.
"To me it's still -- it's extremely upsetting. Like I say, being involved, knowing the coach from there, and knowing our kids are doing the same thing, it could have been anyone's bus."
Grizzlys interim head coach Joe Murphy has been contacting players to talk about the accident and give them a way to express their feelings.
Dallas says club officials will meet shortly to discuss what else they might do to help players and to honour those killed and hurt in the crash.
"I would imagine we will do something here. It's just obviously in the off-season right now I'm just worried about showing our support and stuff like that and helping our kids deal with this -- talking to all our players about it and making sure they're fine," he says.
"And then, yeah, what kind of ceremony -- if it's a patch, whatever, we'll decide that as we go forward here."
