Clark’s place cemented in Raiders’ lore

Donn Clark 1962- 2019

Donn Clark on the Raiders Wall of Honour.

    It seems like the young people in Prince Albert love a certain colourful story about the late Donn Clark.

    The colourful story happened on Feb. 11, 2005, and those who were eight years of age or younger then enjoy hearing about it. Those listeners would be age 22 or 23 and younger now.

    Back on Feb. 11, 2005, Clark was the general manager of the Prince Albert Raiders who were hosting the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a WHL regular season clash at the Art Hauser Centre. The game went to overtime with the two sides locked in a 3-3 tie.

    At the 1:45 mark of overtime, Hurricanes left-winger Kris Versteeg hauled down Raiders captain and standout defensive defenceman Luke Fritshaw with a hook behind the Prince Albert net.

    Versteeg jumped on the loose puck and centred it to linemate Tyler Redenbach. Redenbach shot the puck past Raiders star netminder Rejean Beauchemin to give Lethbridge a 4-3 victory.

    Due to the fact the Hurricanes scored the winning goal on a play that should have resulted in an obvious penalty to Versteeg, Clark came storming on to the ice after referee Ryan Agar protesting the non-call.

    The Raiders and their fans weren’t pleased that night with the work performed by Agar and linesmen Paul Brunen and Zac Wiebe. Debris rained down to the ice surface from the 2,115 spectators in attendance showing their displeasure for the non-call that cost the Raiders the game.

    During that scene, Clark and Raiders head coach Peter Anholt proceeded to pursue Agar.

    At the time, I was working for the Medicine Hat News in my first season covering the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers as a beat writer, but I still heard that story from afar with keen interest. I covered the Raiders as a beat writer for the Prince Albert Daily Herald the three previous campaigns.
    The Hurricanes arrived in Medicine Hat to play the Tigers five days after that controversial win over the Raiders.
    I visited with Hurricanes general manager Darren Stocker before that clash with the Tigers, and he still couldn’t believe how that win over the Raiders played out.

    Stocker told me I should have been at that game. Stocker said Clark absolutely lost it that night.

    The Hurricanes general manager admitted the Raiders really got jobbed in that game, but his side wasn’t going to complain about being on the good side of fortune.

    Stocker said he was sitting among the crowd with a couple of Hurricanes staffers, and the Raiders fans in their section gave the look of rage towards the Lethbridge bunch sitting with them.

    Stocker said it seemed like some of the fans thought the Lethbridge side had conspired with the officials against the Raiders. The Hurricanes boss said he explained to the fans all those on his side were just as surprised as they were, and the Lethbridge squad didn’t have anything to do with what the officials called or didn’t call.

    Out of that story you saw Clark’s passion for the Raiders in a visible form. Raiders fans who were so young that they don’t have the most clear recollections of that time love hearing that story, or it seems they do when I visit “Hockey Town North” and tell it.

    Now as young adults or in their late teens, those fans enjoy hearing how Clark was out to stick up for his guys and was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, when the Raiders were hosed by a non-call by the officials.

    On March 1, the Raiders inducted Clark as a builder on to the Raiders Wall of Honour. Clark was still alive, but he wasn’t able to be at the Art Hauser Centre that night due to his battle with cancer.

    His brother and legend with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, Wendel, was in Prince Albert to accept the honour and offer thanks on behalf of the family. Donn Clark passed away the next day on March 2 in the palliative care unit at the St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.

    The Kelvington, Sask., product was 56 years of age and two days shy of his 57^th birthday. Clark and I both happen to have birthdays on March 4.
    Clark was a defenceman for the Raiders during their inaugural season in the WHL in 1982-83. He was the club’s head coach for two seasons from 1993 to 1995.

    During the 1994-95 season, the Raiders finished third overall in the WHL with a 44-26-2 mark and advanced to a league semifinal series against the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Wheat Kings claimed the best-of-seven series in a deciding seventh game.

    Had the Raiders won that Game 7, they would have advanced to the Memorial Cup tournament to play for the CHL title. The Kamloops Blazers had won the other WHL semifinal series that year, and they were the host squad for the Memorial Cup.

    Due to the fact the Blazers made the WHL final, their opponent in that series was guaranteed a berth in the four-team field at the Memorial Cup.

    Clark left the Raiders following that season. He returned to the club as head coach at the start of the 2000-01 campaign.

    At the beginning of the 2001-02 season, Clark held both the role of head coach and director of hockey operations. With the Raiders facing financial struggles, it was his idea to break up the general manager’s role into the roles of director of hockey operations and director of business operations to ensure the club’s business aspect got the attention it deserved.

    First Bob Twyver and then Robin Davie proceeded to get the Raiders back on their feet financially in the director of business operations role.

    Shortly into that campaign, Clark gave up the head coach role to focus on the player personnel side of the team to get that aspect of the club on good footing. He even got the better of Brandon Wheat Kings head coach, general manager and owner Kelly McCrimmon on a couple of trades.
    Clark’s position morphed back into the role of general manager at the start of the 2004-05 campaign, when the Raiders were again healthy on and off the ice. That season with a group of players that were extremely popular in the community, the Raiders went on “The Run” and advanced to the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series falling in seven games to the Wheat Kings.

    The Raiders wouldn’t go on another long playoff run until winning the WHL title this past season and advancing to the Memorial Cup.

    Clark remained the team’s general manager until being ousted on Jan. 14, 2008.

    During the time Clark was with the Raiders in a coach or management role over his two stints, the person that was the general manager of the Raiders immediately received heaps of fan criticism similar to the fan criticism heaped on any person that becomes general manager of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

    Looking back on time, I believe Clark dealt with that situation as well as anyone could have. He came up with the Wall of Honour idea for the Raiders and was quick to say he would probably never be on it.

The 2004-05 Raiders team picture including Donn Clark.

    I remember Clark telling me there would always be people that didn’t like Donn Clark, and he was content to live with that being an “it is what it is” situation.

    When I first arrived in Prince Albert in May of 2001 to work as a sports reporter for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, Clark gave me all his contact info and phone numbers during our first meeting.

    Over the years, he always returned phone calls and messages.

    At one point in the first half of the 2003-04 season, I remember stressors were coming up all over the place, and looking back, I wasn’t reading things with the team correctly.

    Clark set up a meeting in his office, where I met with him and Anholt. Clark knew the criticisms that had come up against him in town.

    Clark said whatever might come up that raises a concern his office door is always open.

    He went on to say if I have to come and yell “Clark you’re and asshole,” he said that was fine too.

    Clark said to come in, say that and we’ll talk about it.

    For the rest of Clark’s days on earth, that meeting allowed so many things to hit new heights even after I had left Prince Albert.

    About a month-and-a-half after that meeting, my father passed away from cancer, and the Raiders were a great family-type support system during that moment in time.

    I rode the bus with the team during in division road trips, and that made for great memories. During those trips, I learned how thoughtfully Clark could speak on all sorts of subjects.

    After I moved to Medicine Hat, I went out for Halloween once as NFL diva receiver Terrell Owens in 2006. The Raiders were in for a road game shortly after that, and Clark gave me the good-natured gears about my Halloween night out during a morning skate.

    I almost fell down laughing, because he was able to find out about that night from someone in town.

    Even when he was battling cancer for about the last four years, Clark would not let on with how he was doing in email or social media exchanges regarding his health. He always encouraged me in my freelance sports media pursuits and with the work I did on this blog.

    I remember this one email message he sent, where I was amazed at how beautifully written it was. Clark showed off another talent I didn’t know he had.

Donn Clark shakes hands with Evan Fiala at the Blades 2017 home opener.

    As the Raiders marched on to finish first in the WHL’s regular season standings and win the league crown this past campaign, it was great to see any difficulties people in Prince Albert might have had with Clark were buried in the past.

    It was cool to see that he was being remembered now in a fond way, and his place in Raiders lore was secure. For Raiders fans, Clark will always be one of theirs.

    I should note that doesn’t discount his time with the Saskatoon Blades. Clark was with the Blades for the full 1981-82 season and small parts of the 1980-81 and 1982-83 campaigns as a defenceman.

    Those involved with the Blades 1981-82 campaign are really close, and that group has taken the passing of Clark and Bruce Gordon in 2017 hard. Gordon, who also passed away from cancer, was a captain with the 1981-82 squad.

    Clark was the Blades head coach from the start of the 1995-96 season and was released part way through the 1997-98 campaign.

    Clark liked to show a tough exterior, but he really did have a soft interior. After he passed away, I saw lots of stories over social media telling about Clark’s various acts of kindness.

    Overall, he will always be identified for his time as a coach and an executive with the Raiders.

    Today at 2 p.m. at the Legion Hall in Kelvington, Sask., people from all over the hockey world will arrive to celebrate Clark’s life.

    It is safe to say all who knew him will miss someone who was as genuine as Clark was.

The Raiders are saddened to learn of the passing of Donn Clark. Donn did so much for the organization on and off the ice. Our condolences go out to his family and friends at this time.

Last night, Donn was inducted into the Raiders Wall of Honour for everything he did for us. pic.twitter.com/QqOKm0wzen

— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) March 3, 2019

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Great Scott – Veteran goalie sets new Raiders shutout record

The Raiders congratulation G Ian Scott on his team shutouts record.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – It was a night where he wasn’t overly busy, but Ian Scott was the man of the moment for the Prince Albert Raiders.

    The fourth-year veteran goalie made 14 saves to pick up a shutout as the Raiders thumped the Swift Current Broncos 8-0 on Friday night before a standing room crowd of 2,848 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The shutout was the seventh of the campaign for Scott, who set a new Raiders team record for most shutouts in one regular season.

    The old record of six shutout was first set by Rejean Beauchemin in the 2003-04 campaign. Luke Siemens equaled that mark of six shutouts in the 2012-13 season before Scott set a new standard on Friday.

Netminder Ian Scott gets focused for the third period on Friday.

    “It is a pretty cool accomplishment,” said Scott, who played for Canada at the last world juniors. “It wouldn’t have happened this season without the team in front of me.

    “A lot of thanks goes towards them for shutting it down tonight and making it two in a row.”

    Back on Tuesday, Scott made 24 saves to equal the Raiders record for most shutouts in a season in a 6-0 victory also over the Broncos at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The win on Friday allowed the Raiders to improve their WHL leading record to 52-9-2-2. Scott, who turned 20-years-old in early January, has been a big part of what has been an outstanding season for the Raiders.

Captain Brayden Pachal had a goal and an assist on Friday.

    In 46 appearances with the Raiders this season, Scott has posted a 36-7-3 record, a 1.86 goals against average and a .932 save percentage to go with his seven shutouts.

    Having joined the Raiders as a 16-year-old rookie back in 2015-16, Scott admits he is amazed by how far his career has come. He said it has been great he has been able to enjoy the ride with some long time teammates, who help make up the core of the Raiders.

    “I think it is pretty crazy,” said Scott, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 183 pounds. “The past few seasons probably weren’t the strongest.

    “Just coming in this season, I think it is a real eye opener about a lot of personal things I have worked on, and I think it has helped.

    “I share a lot of those moments with Parker (Kelly). (Zack) Hayes I’ve been with since like midget. It is pretty special as a team I think.”

    Scott’s shutout on Friday proved to be more of a mental challenge than a physical one, because he didn’t see a whole lot of shots on goal. He kept his concentration up despite going long stretches of time without seeing any action.

Ian Scott made 14 saves for his record shutout win on Friday.

    With the Raiders holding a comfortable 7-0 lead after 40 minutes, team captain and veteran defenceman Brayden Pachal said attention increased towards helping Scott get the record. Prince Albert allowed only two shots on goal over the final 20 minutes of Friday’s contest.

    “It is one of those things we talked about it during the second intermission,” said Pachal, who had a goal, two assists and was a plus-four in the plus-minus department in Friday’s win. “We wanted to get that for him.

    “It seems like whenever we don’t talk about him getting a shutout he doesn’t get it. It is one of those things it might be a jinx for some guys, but not for him. He definitely locks it down.”

    Pachal was pumped to see Scott get the Raiders regular season shutouts record.

Brett Leason scored twice for the Raiders on Friday.

    “It is pretty awesome,” said Pachal. “He (Scott) has had a phenomenal season.

    “He has been our backbone back there, so it was going to happen. I was just a matter of time, so it was good on him.”

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said that Scott wasn’t tested during the team’s last two games like in some of the other shutouts veteran puck stopper has had. With that said, Habscheid said you can never discount the work that goes into getting a shutout, and he was happy to see Scott get the team record for most shutouts in one season.

    “A shutout is a shutout,” said Habscheid. “He (Scott) is an important guy for us.

    “He has been that all year. You could tell the guys were doing what they had to do to help him out in that regard tonight for sure.”

Spencer Moe had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

    The Raider built a 4-0 lead in the first period scoring on their second and third shots on goal in the process. They proceeded to cruise to victory from that point.

    Brett Leason and Parker Kelly each scored twice for the Raiders, while Noah Gregor, Cole Fonstad and Spencer Moe had singles.

    Isaac Poulter, who is a 17-year-old rookie, turned away 40 shots to take the setback in goal for the Broncos. The Broncos, who are going through a major rebuild after winning the WHL championship last season, fell to 10-47-4-2 to continue to sit last in the league.

    “It was a tough game,” said Habscheid. “They’re rebuilding, and they just know it is tough to play at that time of the year for them.

Cole Fonstad had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

    “I thought our guys played real good. We started off good, and we had good tempo. Our structure was good.”

    The Broncos return to action on Saturday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

    The Raiders hit the ice again on Sunday when they travel to Swift Current to face the Broncos (4 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

    Scott said he will always look fondly on Friday’s game, because he set a new Raiders team record for must shutouts in one season. With that said, he wants to help his team earn bigger accomplishments in the post-season.

Parker Kelly, left, and Brayden Pachal mark the Raiders win on Friday.

    “I will always remember it, but I think we have bigger things moving forward to focus on,” said Scott, who has a signed NHL entry level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I think that is all our goal.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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As always – The song in Prince Albert is still “Go Raiders Go”

Parker Kelly and the Raiders are rolling early in the current WHL campaign.

    “The Song in Prince Albert is Go Raiders Go.”

    A tune written in the early 1970s by country singer Russ Gurr still describes “Hockey Town North.” Thru good times and bad, you must never underestimate the passion the small northern Saskatchewan community has for its Raiders hockey club.

    As this season goes on, it appears that passion will get stoked to new heights as Prince Albert appears set to see the Raiders hockey team they have been dreaming of since “The Run” occurred in 2005. 

    The master plan of general manager Curtis Hunt and head coach Marc Habscheid is coming to fruition as a core group of players who have been together now for their third season appear ready to really take off.

    On Friday in Lethbridge Alta., the Raiders, who are rated fourth in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, posted a convincing 5-1 victory over the host Hurricanes, who are rated third in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, before 3,818 spectators at the Enmax Centre. The win allowed the Raiders to start the season 7-0 to lead the entire Western Hockey League standings in the early part of the 2018-19 regular campaign.

    The Hurricanes, who fell to 2-3, provided a formidable test despite their slow start. Lethbridge has advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series in each of the past two years.

    In the first period of Friday’s clash, the Hurricanes threw everything including the kitchen sink at the Raiders net but were only able to beat Prince Albert’s star 19-year-old netminder Ian Scott once on 21 shots. The Hurricanes goal came courtesy of overage winger Taylor Ross.

Ian Scott held the fort early for the Raiders on Friday night.

    Scott’s efforts allowed Habscheid and his veteran coaching staff including assistant coach Jeff Truitt to go to work and make adjustments.

    From that point, the Raiders took over the contest outshooting the Hurricanes 31-15 over the final 40 minutes. The goals started to come too.

    Import defenceman Sergei Sapego tied the contest up at 1-1 at the 6:26 mark of the second. Overage winger Noah Gregor, who returned Tuesday to the Raiders after being in the AHL training camp of the San Jose Barracuda, put the Raiders up 2-1 at the 10:14 mark of the second.

    Star winger 18-year-old Cole Fonstad scored 20 seconds into the third period and again at the 2:32 mark of that frame to put the Raiders up 4-1. Gregor sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 82 seconds to play in the game.

    Scott made 35 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Sophomore 19-year-old netminder Reece Klassen turned away 35-of-39 shots taking the setback in goal for the Hurricanes.

    The Raiders haven’t won a playoff series since 2005. In that campaign, they advanced on a magical run to the Eastern Conference Champion series falling in a tough seven-game set to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

    That Raiders team was filled with a roster of characters who had character in Rejean Beauchemin, Dane Byers, Kyle Chipchura, Jeremy Colliton, Luke Fritshaw, Mike Gauthier, Mike Hellyer, Rick Kozak, Jeff May, Brett Novak, Brent Ottmann, Caine Pearpoint, Evan Schafer, Chris Schlenker and Aki Seitsonen.

Cole Fonstad scored twice for the Raiders on Friday night.

    That group was a genuine bunch that was as comfortable interacting in various social situations in the community as they were playing on the ice. In Prince Albert, those players were known just as “the boys.”

    The Raiders have “the boys” back again as their current roster matches the positive traits possessed by the group that made that last long post-season run. Prince Albert’s current roster containing the likes of Fonstad, Gregor, Zack Hayes, Brett Leason, Parker Kelly, Max Martin, Jeremy Masella, Kody McDonald, Carson Miller, Spencer Moe, Sean Montgomery, captain Brayden Pachal, Eric Pearce, Sapego and Scott.

    Last season, this group helped Raiders fans start to dream big dreams again. Playing out of an East Division that was basically a “Group of Death,” the Raiders earned a playoff berth with a 32-27-9-4 record thanks to a nine-game winning streak that occurred near the end of the regular season.

    Prince Albert faced the Moose Jaw Warriors, who finished first overall in the WHL with a 52-15-2-3 mark, in a best-of-seven first round series. The Warriors took a 3-1 series lead, but the Raiders battled back with a 5-1 win in Game 5 in Moose Jaw and a 5-4 victory in Game 6 in Prince Albert.

    The Raiders held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 in a series deciding Game 7 played in Moose Jaw on April 3. The two sides were locked in a 4-4 tie until Brayden Burke scored the game and series winner with 3:50 to play in the third period for Moose Jaw to give the Warriors a 5-4 victory.

    As heartbreaking as that series loss was, the battle the Raiders showed brought back images of the team’s glory days from the time the club was founded as a junior A franchise in the 1971-72 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.

Sergei Sapego had the Raiders first goal on Friday night.

    In the junior A ranks, the Raiders won four Centennial Cups as national champions in 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1982. They moved to the WHL at the start of the 1982-83 season and would win the Memorial Cup for major junior supremacy in 1985 in just their third season on the circuit.

    Still, there is caution in big dreams as factors like injuries can derail the campaigns of well-built teams. You also can’t ignore the fact a lot of time has passed since the Raiders last won a playoff series.

    As a fan in “Hockey Town North,” you want to dream big, because you can see the passion and heart these current Raiders play with. They are invested in the franchise like the players from the great Raiders teams of the past were.

    The first three home games for the Raiders attracted 2,775, 2,117 and 2,117 spectators to the Art Hauser Centre, which seats 2,580 spectators. It will likely be a common site for the crowds to push into standing room territory on a regular basis as the season progresses.

    You can bet those spectators will make appearances in opposing team rinks too. With that in mind, the Raiders return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Red Deer to take on the Rebels (4-2).

    If this is going to be a magical year for the Raiders, the faithful in Prince Albert should live in the moment and embrace everything now. Even if the big dreams aren’t realized, it is almost a given this Raiders squad will put in a lunch pail effort on a nightly basis to achieve success.

    The Raiders players should also live in the moment and embrace the fans as much as possible. When a community appearance comes up, the players should do it. Those interactions will leave a great memory for later on in life.

The Raiders faithful is ready to enjoy a lot of wins in 2018-19.

    For the alums that are thinking of making a pilgrimage back to Prince Albert to see their old team, they should do it this season.

    The relationship between the Raiders and their fans is a special one, and when everyone is “all in,” the power of that feeling will give you chills.

    Deep down for the fans in Prince Albert, the dream will always be alive like in 1985.

    The moment has finally arrived to show Canada once again that the song in Prince Albert is and will always be “Go Raiders Go.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Family feeling from Raiders bus makes Humboldt Broncos tragedy tough to stomach

Some old Raiders items with a picture of the Broncos centre ice logo.

    I always thought I had the coolest seat on the Prince Albert Raiders bus.

    I sat next to Dave Manson, who was the Raiders assistant coach. To the outside, he is still regarded as one of the most feared players to ever lace up the skates in the NHL.

    While there were a few times where I would jokingly do something to get him fired up, the majority of the time was spent talking about everything in life. The impression of feared NHL heavyweight was replaced by seeing someone who as a great guy with an incredibly huge heart.

    We were two rows back from the front of the bus, and we had a card table to ourselves. I always thought that was a sweet perk.

    I covered the Raiders for three seasons from 2001 to 2004 for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, and during the last of those three campaigns, then head coach Peter Anholt and then general manager Donn Clark gave the invite to have me tag along on the bus to cover road games. At the time, myself and then Raiders play-by-play voice Brian Munz were the only two full-time media staffers covering sports in “Hockey Town North.”

    I tried to make the in division games that could be covered on day trips. I accompanied the Raiders on the playoff run that unfortunately only lasted for two trips in the first round.

    Anholt always told everyone you will make your best memories on the bus. When I left Prince Albert to cover the Medicine Hat Tigers for the Medicine Hat News before the start of the 2004-05 WHL campaign, I always looked back on those Raiders road trips fondly.

    The biggest thing that stuck in my mind was that there were no secrets on the bus. After a short time, you quickly begin to know the players, coaches and staff better than your own blood family members, and it feels like they know you better than their own blood family members. We all likely knew things about each other our blood families didn’t know about us.

    The Raiders were focused on winning, but that team was likely the most sociable bunch I ever dealt with on the WHL circuit. You wanted to hang out everywhere with them. The Raiders always had the reputation of having guys that were viewed as the greatest sociable guys on top of being one of the most physical teams in the WHL.

The inside of a Raiders program from the 2003-04 WHL season.

    I always seemed to cycle to the back of the bus to hang with veteran defencemen Luke Fritshaw and Chris Schlenker along with then skilled sophomore power forward Kyle Chipchura. They were all characters who had character. They always seemed to be my dinner companions too during stops at restaurants.

    I remember Travis Young always being composed and his composure might only be surpassed by the surreal calm of netminder Rejean Beauchemin.

    Seth Leonard, the team’s 50-goal man that season, and checking forward Justin Cruse always seemed to provide good humour. I was on the trip where Cruse famously shoe-checked Manson.

    I could go through the whole roster that season including the likes of captain Jeremy Colliton, Mike Gauthier, Jeff May, Brett Novak, Jordan Morgan, Brandon Peet, Dane Byers, Evan Schafer, Aki Seitsonen and everyone brings back a good memory. You also can’t forget everyone’s best friend in trainer Duane “Puff” Bartley.

    Those guys do become your family. Back then, I wasn’t that much older than the players, and a bond formed over the fact that we were all still young. We took on the world with a youthful energy.
    While there was a lot of fun with jokes, card games and movies, there were conversations about subjects in the news or authors of books, which you wouldn’t think happens on a hockey team bus.

    That is what for me makes Friday’s accident involving the Humboldt Broncos team bus so hard to stomach. While on the way to play the Nipawin Hawks in a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game, the Broncos bus collided with a semi-truck just north of Tisdale.

    I remember all those bonds on the Raiders bus and identify with how tight Humboldt’s hockey team must have been. The Broncos are one of the elite and storied franchises in the junior A ranks, so I believe the bonds on that club would be really strong.

The Broncos logo all set up for Sunday night’s vigil.

    It is conceivable I crossed paths with members of the Broncos somewhere in hockey, but I do not have any memories of the players in captain Logan Schatz, Adam Herold, Conner Lukan, Evan Thomas, Jacob Leicht, Jaxon Joseph, Logan Boulet, Logan Hunter, Stephen Wack or Parker Tobin. Same goes for head coach and general manager Darcy Haugen, assistant coach Mark Cross, play-by-play voice Tyler Bieber and bus driver Glen Doerksen.

    Stats expert Brody Hinz did like my Twitter posts about the Raiders the odd time.

    All of those names make up the 15 deceased.

    Two players have been released from hospital including forward Nick Shumlanski, and 12 are still in hospital including four in critical condition.

    As time moves on, I keep finding out I am friends with someone who was friends or family members with one of the deceased or survivors of the crash. It makes what happened hit a little more at home.

    Even with that said, I still can’t imagine what everyone connected with the Humboldt team is going through. I went to the vigil on Sunday night in Humboldt and to the one on the University of Saskatchewan campus on Monday afternoon. I believe being there to offer support helped, but I am still wrapping my head around the enormity of everything.

    I think back to the days on the Raiders bus, and I know I would have been absolutely gutted if a bus crash happened and half of everyone on board was no longer with us. As that season went on, I needed those guys.

My father Dan Steinke, left, passed away during the 2003-04 hockey season.

    I was back home with my parents in Regina for the WHL Christmas break, and my dad, Dan Steinke, was admitted to hospital just as that break was ending. He passed away due to cancer on January 4, 2004. I ultimately missed most of the first three weeks of the second half of the season.

    Anholt was in touch with me through everything when that happened. The first game I worked after my dad’s passing was on Jan. 10, 2004, and because of the bus bonds, the Raiders were waiting to be a support system.

    They won a tight 3-2 outing over the Moose Jaw Warriors, and it felt like they had some extra jump in their step to help what I was going though.

    Later on in playoffs, we went out to Winnipeg for Game 6 of a best-of-seven first round series against the Brandon Wheat Kings, who were leading the set 3-2. The Wheat Kings were forced out of their home rink due to annual Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon.

    As usual, the Raiders went up the day before the game, and I had an important blood family issue to look after, when I arrived in Winnipeg. On the trip down, everyone on the bus new my situation.
    When the bus arrived in the Manitoba capital, I left to address the issue. I didn’t see everyone until the next night’s game at the storied Winnipeg Arena.

    In the last playoff game ever played at the Winnipeg Arena, the Wheat Kings claimed a 4-1 win to take the series 4-2 bringing the Raiders season to an end.

    Anholt took losing hard, but he always answered post-game interview questions honestly. With a season ending loss, emotions around the Raiders dressing room were low.

    After I interviewed Anholt, he asked how things went on the blood family front. I said they went well.

    Anholt smiled and said, “That’s good. Family is important.”

The 2003-04 Raiders are pictured on the right.

    Family is important, and the family formed on the bus is just as important. I learned that from my experiences on the Raiders bus.

    At the moment, the survivors of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash are missing a huge chunk of that bus family here in the physical world. Among the larger hockey family, people might not have a full realization of the hurt, but everyone knows it is there.

    We just hope we can play a small part in helping on the recovery trail.

    On a spiritual level, my gut tells me those that have passed on from the crash are still there to provide help to their family members on the Broncos bus who are still in this physical world. The bus family will always be there for the survivors of the Broncos bus crash as they work to find a new everyday normal and continue to be “Bronco Strong.”

    Finding the new normal won’t be an easy road for the survivors to travel, but they will have lots of help along the way.

    Editor Note - A day after this column was originally posted, Broncos team athletic therapist Dayna Brons passed away due to her injuries from the team’s bus accident. The total number of deaths from the Broncos bus accident stands at 16.
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