Kingston hockey community talks about life on team buses after Humboldt Broncos’ collision

Whatever sport you play, at any level, odds are you’ve spent time on a team bus travelling to another community to compete.

A lot of people are thinking about those times, in light of the recent tragedy that left 15 members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team in Saskatchewan dead.

Kingston Voyageurs head coach, Peter Goulet, has worked in a number of roles in hockey over the last 15 years.

He’s travelled much of Canada and the U.S. for hockey by bus, saying some trips were over 10 hours one way.

Goulet says the bus becomes a home away from home.

“You know our team, they’re playing cards, playing euchre, you know, they’re doing their homework and you know, everyone thinks they’re safe.”

The Humboldt collision has shown how quickly things can change.

Goulet says he still isn’t sure what to say to his players next season when it comes time to step on the team bus.

“You know, reassure and to say, you know, keep it as positive as you can, make sure they stay focused on hockey.”

Jason Sands makes his living in real estate now but in the mid-1990s, he played for the Kingston Frontenacs, and he also logged in time playing at university and in Europe.

Sands has probably logged in hundreds of thousands of kilometres on team buses and says for players, it’s a sacred place, which makes this recent incident all the more difficult.

“You know, for the last few days, I’ve been following it a lot and I get a lot of text messages from guys I haven’t even heard of in years and, ‘Sandsy you remember those days, buddy,’ and it definitely, it’s really upsetting.”

That protection of the bus is something that Allan Etmanski has witnessed as well.

The Voyageurs play-by-play commentator says the bus is quite often a place where players have that rare chance to relax and just be themselves.

“Let the stresses of being a teenager get away because growing up, you’ve got school, you’ve got hockey, worrying about what’s going to happen after you’re done school, and it was just a place where they can be them for two, three hours while you’re on the bus.”