There was an enduring image that always stuck from the gold medal hockey game from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. A rabid Canadian fan was holding a sign that said, "Hockey is Canada's game."
And it is, from coast to coast, in the big cities and on to the small Prairie communities, and to the far corners north of 60, hockey is the glue that holds the nation together. For Canadians it is more than just a sport, more than just a pastime to help get us through the brutal winters. It is the passion that fuels the Canadian soul, so much so it morphs into the religious or spiritual realms.
And when we all first heard the horrible heart-wrenching news on April 6 of the devastating bus and tractor-trailer crash in Saskatchewan that resulted in the deaths of 16 members and supporters of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team, it was too much to bear. Canada's heart was broken. Thirteen others were injured, including Olds resident Graysen Cameron. The young hockey players were at the cusp of the primes of their lives doing what thousands of others across the country do every winter -- riding a bus to another community to play the game they love, no matter what the weather conditions. There is nothing more Canadian than that.
It is a tragedy that strikes the heart and soul of the country and the outpouring of grief and offers of support from coast to coast, and beyond, have been unprecedented.
"Like you said, a religion. I don't know a better way to describe that. It has been bred into us. It is our life for many of our families," said Innisfail's Carla Turnquist, a local psychologist who offered her expert counselling skills to help the grieving Humboldt families this weekend. "This has hit the hockey community incredibly hard, such a ripple effect throughout the entire nation. I can't imagine what the players, the coaches and their families are feeling."
It will be quite a while for the survivors of this incomprehensible tragedy to make sense of it all. The pain will never quite go away, but hopefully they will find a way to manage it and move on.
Canadians have always had that special mettle, like Albertans did following the disastrous Fort McMurray fire. They were, and are, Alberta Strong. Humboldt is and will always be Saskatchewan Strong, Humboldt Broncos Strong.
And hockey will always be there to ignite the passion -- Canada's game, Canada Strong.
Johnnie Bachusky is the editor of the Innisfail Province.
