Today the Peace Region came together for a second round of hockey games for the Humboldt Broncos. The game began with a ceremony where North Peace Navigators President, Albert Cooper, said some kind words in remembrance of his time working with Darcy Haugan. Darcy’s family was honoured with a banner in his memory to commemorate today’s game. The family dropped the puck after Haugan’s son led the crowd of 1,500 people in prayer.
Although the team lost 9-5, there is no question in the strength of the hockey community as they all turned out in solidarity. The Broncos ended their game with a kind send off, raising their hockey sticks in the air. It was an exciting day as well as an emotional day for the town of Peace River, noted Cooper.
Peace River Broadcasting got the chance to talk with the North Peace Navigators president about what Darcy meant to the team. “Darcy helped me when I first had the vision for the navigators, he was one of the first people involved, sat on our board and then later on he came back here with Christina and he coached and was general manager for 12 years, so there’s not much that’s gone on in the Navigators that Darcy didn’t touch. We are forever grateful to him for what he brought to the team, the standards he set, the character that he brought and the character he strived to instill in all the men who have gone through our program.”
He also told us his message to the Humboldt Broncos and their fans “our hearts go out to you, we can’t imagine the pain and sorrow that you feel and we know that now you have to start rebuilding. We wish you well in that process and we hope that this weekend helps begin the healing process.”
With all the pressure of the spotlight after such tragedy, the team now has to find a way to move forward but not forget the tragedy. New Humboldt Broncos coach, Nathan Oystrick, says “our message to the players is as it’s always been which is it’s about you. We’re a team, no one is ever going to forget that day but it’s a chance for us to take a step forward and move into the new season.” He notes that it’ll be important as they move forward for the players to not get caught up in the media’s focus on the tragedy and they will do everything they can to help the players transition.
The Broncos are 10 days away from their first game of the season.
-LG
