Sitting in his Bow Meadows living room, tears begin to creep into Bill Marsh's eyes as he speaks of how the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team tragedy affected him as a hockey parent, a full province away.
Sitting in his Bow Meadows living room, tears begin to creep into Bill Marsh's eyes as he speaks of how the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team tragedy affected him as a hockey parent, a full province away.
The catastrophe claimed the lives of 16 people, many of them under the age of 21, when their hockey bus from Humboldt en route to Nipawin, Sask., for a playoff game collided with a semi-truck on April 6 - the cause of the accident is under investigation. At least another dozen victims of the crash remain in hospital, several in critical condition.
A GoFundMe page to help the surviving and healing families has broken a record-shattering $8 million and continues to climb, as funds roll in from across the nation, around the world.
Presidents and the Royal Family have tweeted about it. Europe is talking about it. Pro athletes don green and gold - Bronco colours - and have been holding moments of silence and quiet tears.
Today, schoolchildren Canada-wide - including Cochrane - wore the signature team colours and team jerseys to school to send a message to the town of Humboldt, population less than 6,000, that those lives mattered.
Hockey parents from everywhere have placed their sticks on their front porches and left the lights on to pay their respects and encourage the lost players to continue to score goals in heaven.
Marsh, a professional photographer and hockey dad, is simply one of the many who placed his sticks on his front stoop out of respect.
"To any of the boys from the Humboldt Broncos ... come by our house on your way to heaven. I've left a stick for you near the front door. There are a lot of goals left in that stick. Make a great pass, get an epic goal. You are forever in our hearts," he wrote on his Facebook page.
He talks about how men need to learn how to grieve, to cry. How if one doesn't cry over such a tragedy of this proportion, what does one shed tears over? He reflects on his own childhood playing hockey, being part of a team and travelling around on a team bus.
"My memories are almost never about scoring a goal - it was about that bus ... it was about the camaraderie and the family," said Marsh, remarking on the family element that is integral to the sport of hockey, to any sport.
Kyla Williams is another parent who has put her sticks out on her front porch.
"As a hockey mom, I have two young boys who live for the game who one day very soon will be travelling all over," said the hockey and ringette mom of four.
"You never want to think about it, but we all know something horrible could happen. We need to show these families that as a hockey family and country, we are with them in their darkest hours and that the light will shine again."
Peter Guthrie, Cochrane businessman who is running for the Airdrie-Cochrane UCP riding, held a meet and greet event at Killarney's Pub on April 7.
Guthrie matched and donated the funds raised that evening, totaling $570.
"I did not feel right collecting any donations for myself, knowing that these people are going through this," said Guthrie. "Throughout our lives we've travelled with school events for hockey or for dance ... you can empathize with what they're going through. It can happen to any one of us."
Cochrane's flag was at half-mast on the morning of April 9 and town council started their biweekly Monday night with a sombre moment in recognition of the tragedy, as well as the loss of a four-month-old infant girl in nearby Morley the week before.
"The scope of this tragedy and the impact on the supporters, families and the whole community is one we all feel," said Mayor Jeff Genung in his council speech.
How to help
Local artisan Kaileigh LaRocque-Walker is crafting helmet and vehicle decals in honour of the Humboldt Broncos.
Available for $5 each, the proceeds will go directly to the GoFundMe account and can be ordered through her Facebook page Kaileigh's Kreations.
"As a mom of two boys this tragedy hit me very hard. I wanted to give back in the best way I knew how," she said.
By press time, LaRocque-Walker had more than 400 helmet stickers and 100 vehicle decals. She led a similar initiative for the 2016 Ft. McMurray wildfire relief efforts, where she raised $1,200.
People are being encouraged to donate blood. The next Canadian Blood Services clinic will be held May 21 at the Cochrane RancheHouse.
The recent tragedy has also spurred reminders to fill out organ donor registrations, which can be done at registries or myhealth.alberta.ca.
