“Tonight, we are all Broncos.”
The closing remark by Chris Joseph, with the families of the four deceased St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club players united together on stage, was Friday’s poignant moment for the Jersey Gala scholarship fundraiser as community members celebrated the memories of the Humboldt Broncos who lost their lives April 6.
“We’re very fortunate to have so many caring, giving people around, and tonight, all the hard work that the committee put together and the volunteers put together really came together nicely,” Joseph said afterward.
“I don’t know how much money we raised, but I know there was a ton of love in the building and lots of support. Everybody was trying to do their part to make us, the four families, feel comfortable and they did a great job. It was wonderful and we appreciate it so much.”
The St. Albert Humboldt Remembrance Committee set a goal of raising $500,000 for scholarships in the names of Logan Hunter, Conner Lukan, Jaxon Joseph and Stephen Wack. Friday’s Jersey Gala was the signature event to preserve the legacy of the four Broncos.
Gala chair Hannah Barnes welcomed the 650 individuals who paid $200 apiece to share an evening with emcee Ron MacLean, co-host of Hockey Night In Canada and Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour, and keynote speaker Peter Mansbridge, the former chief correspondent of CBC News and anchor of The National, CBC’s flagship nightly newscast. The night included performances by Smitty Kingston and Tom Cochrane, and an entertaining Hot Stove hockey talk segment with Olympic gold medallist Meaghan Mikkelson of St. Albert, NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Paul Coffey and Bob Nicholson, CEO of the Edmonton Oilers.
“As you can imagine, the amount of effort has been immense and the donations, sponsorships and ticket purchases by each of you has made all of this possible,” Barnes told the crowd.
The committee announced Monday it raised $438,000 through its Jersey Gala-related activities. With expenses of about $8,000 for four park benches with commemorative plaques, $25,000 for a stick memorial inside Akinsdale Arena (soon to be renamed Jarome Iginla Arena) and the Jersey Gala, the net amount of about $350,000 cash will be split into four scholarships.
In-kind donations of $250,000 to host the Jersey Gala, including the gracious donation of the meal co-ordinated by Ken Kachmar, are examples of how individuals, businesses and sponsors rallied around the cause.
“For a one-off event, everything has the potential of going sideways and nothing went sideways,” said committee chair Nolan Crouse on the success of the first-class venture through the efforts of 100-plus volunteers in a variety of capacities.
“This was a tough one to get everybody singing on the same sheet. We weren’t a team. We never were a team. We were just a bunch of people coming together trying to help,” said Crouse.
It was fitting the Jersey Gala was staged in the Enjoy Centre.
“We are in Lois Hole’s little heaven, right?” MacLean said of the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
“Lois was called the queen of hugs, and the first thing Chris Joseph said when he came to meet me and Peter and all of us, he said, ‘I’m a hugger now,’ and I think this is a great group hug.”
Among the attendees was Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench, who accepted St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron’s invitation to attend the fundraiser when they were at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Halifax in June.
“It’s been a difficult seven months, and I always say to people, we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help that we’ve received from virtually across the country and even beyond,” Muench said of the 16 lives lost in the bus crash. “When you're struggling and you have people reaching out to you like that, I can’t say enough how much we appreciate it and how it’s helped our community.”
Joseph echoed those sentiments while speaking from the heart on behalf of the four families.
“We’ve known much pain and sorrow in the past few months, and many days it’s hard to get out of bed, but along the way we’ve met so many beautiful people with huge hearts. People have given so much of themselves to ease our grief,” he said.
“To our close friends and families in attendance, you have lived part of our journey since day one and we know you felt the pain as much as we did on April 6. We thank you for simply being there. We thank you for being there when we needed a shoulder to cry on, for listening when we needed to talk and for picking us up when we fell down,” Joseph said. “We still need that shoulder and always will. We love you very much.”
During a live auction of the guitar Cochrane used to perform Big League with, Coffey bought the guitar for $10,000 and presented it to Joseph.
“When he walked over with the guitar and he pointed at me, I thought, ‘Damn you, Paul, don’t give me this guitar because I know that’s what you’re thinking,’ and he looked at me and he pointed at me and he gave it to me and I thought, ‘You spent all of that money to buy this guitar and you want to just give it to me,’” Joseph said.
“He is one of the nicest people ... he called me on April 7, early in the morning. He was one of my first calls. He just has the biggest heart. He cares about people and is a tremendous hockey player obviously but even better than that he’s a great person.”
As for the memorial tributes in place in St. Albert, “We share pictures almost daily of someone sitting on our boys’ benches and touching those hockey sticks,” Joseph said. “We feel the boys sit with us when we sit there and we find ourselves each time when we get up to walk away simply saying, ‘Bye Jax. Bye Logy. Bye Stephen. Bye Conner. See you tomorrow.’”
The tight-knit St. Albert hockey community was deeply shaken over the deaths of the Raiders Hockey Club alumni, who were killed near Nipawin, Sask., when their team bus was struck by a semi-trailer.
“While our city mourns all of the lives lost that day, we particularly grieve with the families and friends of Jaxon Joseph, Stephen Wack, Logan Hunter and Conner Lukan,” said Joe Becigneul, the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association referee-in-chief, prior to saying grace.
“The boys died while pursing their dreams. For some, it might have been an NHL contract. For others, it was a university scholarship. Until their untimely and tragic deaths, they were doing what they loved.”
Mansbridge described how the emotional impact of the tragedy brought Canadians together.
“When I look out at this room, you know what I see? I see Canada. I see the faces of men, women and children who share a community and they share a country,” he said.
“It sometimes brings us happiness, but also sometimes it brings some pain ... Tonight, we’re here because of that pain, pain we’ll never forget. Pain that has united us from coast to coast to coast but pain somehow makes us stronger. What we saw in the outpouring of collective support and what we still see today was Canada – a Canada (where) no matter who you are or what you believe, you care. It’s something that is remarkable about our country, and for us as Canadians it makes us distinctive,” said Mansbridge, who went on to say how the four players “embodied all the qualities we are proud to call Canadian.
“Jaxon, who always arrived at the rink with a smile and chased his dream with everything he had. He inspired us never to give up.
“Logan, who lived to served others. Logan wanted to be a teacher. He inspires each of us to be better, to remember that helping each other is the most important thing.
“Conner, who worked hard every day to be faster, stronger and better. He inspires us to push through all the obstacles in our way towards being our best selves.
“And Stephen, who had so much love to give, who felt so connected to his team, to his friends, to his family. He inspires each and every one of us to be more open, more loving, more connected to each other.
“These guys, these young men, we see the best in our country. We see Canada. Never give up. Reach out to others. Be stronger, faster, better and love and be loved every single day. These are all gifts we get from these boys.”
Throughout the gala, the message of hope ran strong.
“It’s easy to feel defeated when tragedy hits. It’s easy to be angry. It’s easy to shut down. I know because I’ve seen that. I know because I’ve felt that, but there is something else we know and that’s (that) the resilience of the human spirit is a wonderful thing,” Mansbridge said.
“It’s an incredible thing. We cannot let them down – we will not let them down. You will not let them down, and they will never, ever be forgotten. Why? Because we – all of us in this room – we are all Canada."
