Hundreds of people came together in Edmonton Thursday for a public skate in honour of the Humboldt Broncos.
Jerseys with the names of everyone who was on the hockey team’s bus hung along the walls of the Canadian Athletic Club Arena in the city’s northwest. Those in attendance sat and shared stories of the players, coaches and trainers, before taking to the ice for a public skate.
“We had some kids sort of reach out and really struggling with some of the stuff that was going on and we just really wanted, as a hockey community, to do something for our kids,” Canadian Athletic Club president Rick Mcadie said.
“This just touches everybody. It touches parents who put their kids on buses,” he said. “As a parent, my heart went out… We just felt we needed to get our community together and say we care and there’s a place where they can come and skate and recognize their fallen teammates.”
READ MORE: Albertans wear jerseys, donate sports equipment to honour Humboldt Broncos
One by one, 29 local hockey players skated onto the ice, proudly displaying the names of every person involved in the horrific crash. Twenty-nine candles were placed around centre ice, representing each of them.
Hundreds of people young and old attended the public skate. Tristan Savill, 11, wanted to take part “out of respect for fellow hockey players.”
“It’s kind of sad that all these hockey players died. I’ll probably be thinking about that a lot.”
Watch below: A compilation of Canadians from coast to coast wearing jerseys to pay tribute to the Humboldt Broncos
Savill’s teammate Ryan Fleury, 10, felt the same.
“Just to pay my tributes and respect the Broncos because it must be tough for the families because of all the kids that died in that crash.”
The crash happened last Friday on a highway in rural Saskatchewan, and left 16 people dead. Nearly a week later, little is known about what caused the devastating crash.
READ MORE: Here are the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash
Several vigils and public skates have been planned in the wake of the crash, each with a shared theme of bringing people together to grieve and pay their respects to those lost.
“It was for us to come together, gather strength, show remorse and be able to unify the hockey community,” Hockey Edmonton president Mark Doram said.
READ MORE: Where and when you can pay tribute to victims of Humboldt Broncos bus crash
“It doesn’t matter what jersey you wear, what team you play for — we lost a number of young men and women tragically in an accident and it’s a hockey family. Canadians are very supportive of the national sport and they’re very supportive of each other.”
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