People all over Canada, throughout the world in fact, will be wearing sports jerseys today to honour the 16 people who died in last week’s crash of the Humboldt Broncos’ team bus in Saskatchewan. Stephen Simms will be among them, but when the 30-year-old from Reidville on the province’s west coast dons his hockey jersey, it will have a special significance.A decade ago, Simms was playing in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Weyburn Red Wings. He has skated against Broncos teams, played games in Humboldt, has travelled on the same stretch of highway that saw Friday’s tragedy which claimed the lives of 16 people on the Broncos’ bus and injured 13 others with the team.
He understands how deeply this has wounded a small prairie town.
“This would be a tragedy no matter who it involved,” said Simms, “but for places like Humboldt or Weyburn, where I played, junior hockey brings an identity to the community and really to the whole province, because it’s a province-wide league.
“I’ve seen the same sort of thing here playing for Newfoundland senior teams, but it I think it’s even more so in towns like Humboldt.
“So, it’s the entire community that is hurting and not just people there in Humboldt today, but people who are from there or played there and are now somewhere else.”
Simms spent two seasons in Weyburn and was a top defenceman for a Red Wings team that also included forward Scott Doody, a native of Corner Brook, and goaltender A.J. Whiffen of Grand Falls-Windsor.
“I always felt safe on our bus rides when I played in Saskatchewan. All I remember are good times. You ate, you slept, you did everything on the bus,” said Simms.
“I’ve felt safe on buses wherever I’ve played, including here in Newfoundland, but probably even more out west. The roads are flat and straight, and you can see a long way, and while it’s cold, they don’t get that much snow in the winter.
“It makes it even harder to imagine how this happened.”
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Simms recalls Humboldt as being a tough place to play.
“I remember hating to have to go there because they always seemed to have good teams and great fans,” said Simms. “But they’ve always been known as a first-class organization.
“Hockey is big all across Canada, but it’s really important to the people there.”
After completing his junior career, Simms attended St. Francis Xavier University and suited up for the X-Men in Atlantic university play. Since returning to Newfoundland, he’s played in the senior ranks, first with the Corner Brook Royals in the West Coast Senior Hockey League, then with the 2016 Herder provincial champion Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts. This past season, he skated with what would be his hometown team, the Deer Lake Red Wings, captaining that club and leading it to a West Coast Senior Hockey League title, being named the circuit’s MVP and top defenceman in the process.
His ice hockey season is done, but Simms is still playing ball hockey. He has a game tonight and will be wearing his jersey from when he participated in the 2008 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League all-star game. In the meantime, he has given some school-aged cousins other jerseys from his junior career to wear today.
Even though his time in Weyburn was 10 years and many teams ago, Simms has fond memories of his time in the SJHL and still remains in close contact with his billet family from those days.
“When I think about them, it really hits home,” he said. “Our thought and prayers are going to all those (immediate families) who have been devastated by what has happened in Humboldt.
“But there are second families, those billet families, and they are grieving, too.
“Those ties are so strong. For every case where a player has been lost in this accident, it’s like there are two families with a son who is not coming home.”
Twitter@ telybrendan
