A hockey tournament put together by the friends of the four fallen St. Albert Humboldt Broncos players will kick off on Friday July 6 to help raise money for two organizations honouring the team.
Colton Parayko, a St. Albert product who now plays for the St. Louis Blues, is headlining the tournament and will be joined by the friends and family of Jaxon Joseph, Logan Hunter, Stephen Wack and Conner Lukan.
Lukan’s brother Kolby will be serving as captain of the team named in his sibling’s honour.
Event organizers Josh Dechaine, Edmonton Oil Kings netminder, and Jaedon Leslie, who spent the last season with the Whitecourt Wolverines, will both play for team Wack. The duo knew Wack from their time playing for the Wolverines, where they rode the bus together regularly.
“We sat relatively close on the bus, basically side by side. I got to know him really well that year,” Dechaine said.
The two mobilized after the Humboldt tragedy, along with their friend Connor Tupala, to put on a tournament in honour of the four St. Albert players. The final rosters will see friends and teammates playing in the name of their fallen friend.
Leslie said this will be the first time the big group will be coming together to honour the boys but he doesn’t want the weekend to be a sad occasion.
“We want it to be a good gathering and a celebration of the boys’ lives playing the game that they loved,” Leslie said.
So far, organizers have raised around $30 thousand from player fundraising, sponsorships and donations which puts them close to their original goal of raising $40-$50 thousand through the tournament.
The money will be split between two organizations honouring the fallen boys, with 80 per cent of the proceeds going to the St. Albert Humboldt Remembrance Committee, which will fund scholarships in the boys’ names. The remaining 20 per cent will be donated to the Humboldt Strong Community Foundation, established by the president of the Broncos, Kevin Garinger, to help support the survivors of the April 6 bus crash in northeast Saskatchewan. Sixteen players and staff were killed in the collision between the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's team bus and a semi-trailer at a highway intersection. Thirteen others were injured.
Along with the money already raised by the 92 players participating in the tournament, the group will raise funds throughout the weekend. A silent auction will be held on Friday and Saturday during which residents can bid on items like a week-long trip to Mexico, signed NHL jerseys and a barbecue.
The tournament will run all weekend and start with the opening ceremonies on Friday from 7 to 7:30 p.m. and include speeches from Joseph’s father Chris and Hunter’s mother Shauna Nordstrom. Several of the friends of the four boys will be giving speeches.
A ceremonial puck will be dropped by Broncos survivors Derek Patter and Tyler Smith.
Each game will be an hour long and the final match will be played on Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The first game kicks off after the opening ceremony between Team Joseph and Team Hunter.
Donations will be collected over the weekend at the Mark Messier Arena in St. Albert or they can be e-transferred to [email protected].
