Saskatchewan Strong

Saskatchewan Strong

Published: Sunday, Apr 8th 2018, 7:04pm

by Greg McCulloch (@GregOnSports)

Time is a funny thing.

A moment can seem to take forever, and 22 years can seem like yesterday.

As news of the Humboldt Broncos tragedy began to filter through social media on Friday night, I was transported back over 2 decades.

I was back at my dad’s place in Moosomin and he just got off the phone. He told me that my friend Shawna and her mother got in a car accident on the way to her figure skating practice at a town 30 minutes away.

Shawna didn’t make it.

Tragedy has an amazing way of steeling a community. Moosomin in the days after her passing became stronger as a community, friends and neighbours supported those grieving. People who knew Shawna from neighbouring towns came to give support and to offer condolences.

All before social media was even a concept.

Saskatchewan is already the world’s biggest small town, we are all connected. Be it by blood, friends, sports, or just growing up in the prairie we are a tight community.

Because of social media, Saskatchewan became an even tighter community than it already was. The response to the tragedy was swift and immediate, people were offering places to stay, vehicles, hot meals, and even just a shoulder to cry on.

Thanks to social media the world took notice. From Norway to North Bay, from Nanaimo to New York, this event touched the world. There were moments of silence around the world at other hockey games. Same with The Men’s World Curling Championships in Las Vegas and at the Blue Jays game in Texas.

People and companies from all over opened their wallets to a GoFundMe that only initially asked for $60,000 and it grew and grew till it’s currently sitting over $4.8 million from over 70,000 donations.

Professional and amateur teams alike from all different sports honoured the Broncos because they have all been there. Everyone has been on a road trip to a game, tournament, competition, meet, etc at some point in their life and anything could happen.

It will be a long road back for the community of Humboldt, there will be tears but there will be strength as time goes on.  There will be reminders every day about the loss of those in this tragedy, but that keeps the memories of the good times fresh as well.

But at the end of it all, this past weekend has proven we are all not alone.

We are all Saskatchewan Strong.

No matter where you call home.