… the exception being April 6th, 2018

  I never do back to back posts on same subjects, but this time was hard not to. The reason, after I wrote about the new coach Nathan Ostyrick (who ironically started his Junior A hockey playing career for the South Surrey Eagles in an arena not far from us that I coached numerous teams in over the years) and Humboldt Bronco’s rebuild last week, I watched their first regular season game at home as well as all the pregame tribute prior and post-game (thankfully there were no commercials due to TSN sponsoring). Not only was it the first home game of the “new” Humboldt Bronco’s whose roster only had 2 returning players in the game who were named alternate captains of the team, Derek Patter who optimistically told the crowd before the game they were going to get a win and Brayden Camrud.  All of the players that were not lost in the accident and able to come to the came were there for the pre and post game tributes other than two still recovering from brain injuries, Layne Matechuk and Morgan Gorbeil. Three Key things that I wanted to share about the tribute as they head into their rebuild.

1. Considering they are from a small town with just over 6000 residents, they put on one of the classiest tributes I have EVER seen. Starting with the pregame interviews with TSN including former NHL’er Chris Joseph whose son Evan was lost in the tragedy sharing his insight as the game was only a few days before what would have been Evan’s 21^st birthday to Scott Thomas, father of another player who was lost in the crash, Evan and his eloquent thank you speech to the responders, organizations, communities, contributors to the gofundme campaign and across the world for their support.
2. The 29 Banners that were unveiled showing pictures and short descriptions of each member of the team, starting with the 16 that perished and the remaining 13 that survived (albeit still a couple dealing with serious brain injuries).  As each banner was unveiled, I  I got weepy eyed when I looked at the birth dates of the players in particular, many of which still had not reached their 19^th birthday, the official year of becoming adults.
3. The Third were the tributes to their former coach Darcy Haugan who died tragically in the crash. One where Darcy was awarded the first ever new NHL Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award. It was  established to coincide with the Declaration of Principles that the NHL and 16 other global hockey organizations introduced last hockey season that I shared last September 2017 “Thank you Hockey”.

Below is the video where Willie introduces Darcy’s wife, Christina, who received the award on his behalf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RihyVnHWhJo

• Christina also shares the Core Convenant of the Broncos team that he was so passionate of “as a tool of developing young lives.”  It does not mention wins or losses as his purpose was to develop strong character and was one of core values in players he recruited.

As I learned several years back, our purpose as coaches is not to make a living, but rather to make a difference developing youth into adults and this is something that Darcy truly understood. This is a picture of the Covenant that is in the players home dressing room.

Notice the words in CAPS …. FAMILY – RESPECT – PASSION – INTEGRITY – GRATITUDE – BUILDING – BELIEVE – GIVE – GREATNESS These are core values that every team and organization should strive for.

• His emphasis of one of the core values in the core covenant BELIEVE, where he shared with them that “once they started believing, they would turn around their season” and to reinforce believing in themselves, he found a broken yellow kickplate in their own home arena and wrote the word “BELIEVE” across it.  He then asked all the players to sign-it, as well as coaching staff, trainers which became their team mantra for complete buy-in.

Below is a picture of one of the two players parents that is still in the hospital dealing with brain injuries, Shelley and Kevin Matechuk, parents of Layne Matechuk, holding the kickplate.

On several occasions during the tribute, analysts would talk about what he would share with the team on a regular basis “It’s a Great Day to be a Bronco Gentlemen”  Unfortunately April 6^th wasn’t, but Darcy always said family first, hockey second. The last takeaway is the reference to Darcy shared by TSN but I am unsure of the source “The coach every player wanted and every coach wanted to be” Without the support of all their families, both those of the ones that were victims of the tragedy and are no longer with us as well as the surviving players and the organization would not have started over as they did this Sept. 12, 2018. As they all found out, the hockey family is a global one that touched people from all sectors across the globe, not just those involved in hockey. Darcy’s legacy is one that I suspect will pay forward thru many of the players, members of the community and for aspiring or new coaches for many years to come. I believe his wife Christina said it best …. it must not stay in vegas (where the NHL awards ceremonies were held) …. the torch has been passed.