'It means a lot': Plans underway for Humboldt Broncos crash memorial

The makeshift memorial of hockey sticks,jerseys, flowers and crosses is weathered and worn by time. The onlythingsvivid are the memories and the pain.

It was April 2018 when the driver of a semi-trailer truck blewthrough a stop sign andinto the path of a bus carrying theHumboldt Broncos junior hockey team at an intersection 30 kilometresnorth of Tisdale, Sask.

Discussions are still going on two-and-a-half years later about how best to permanently honour the 16 people killed and 13 others injured by the crash.

"It's a tough corner, man," said Myles Shumlanski.

Shumlanski lives less than a kilometre from the site. His son, Nick, was the onlyperson to walk away from the crash with no physical injuries.

"Oh God, yeah. I try not to look, but if I look at it, and if acar is there ... I start thinking about it," he said.

"There's people who live out beside me who still can't drive byit and they weren't even involved with it."

Days after the crash, a makeshift memorial began to grow. Soon itincluded 16 small white-and-green crosses, piles of hockey sticks, apair of hockey skates, jerseys, artificial flowers, team hats and agiant green metal cross emblazoned with "HumboldtStrong."

But wind, snow, rain and the bright Saskatchewan sun have takentheir toll, bleaching out colours to a dim wash of what they oncewere.

A committee of Broncos parents is working on plans to build apermanent memorial at the site. There's no timeline, but some wouldprefer to see it sooner rather than later.

"It's kind of disappointing in a way. You'd think that you'd beable to move things along a little quicker," said Kevin Matechuk,whose son, Layne, spent a month in a coma after the accident. Laynehas no memory of the crash or the six months that followed and stillsuffers from a serious brain injury.

"I kind of pictured having the faces and a small bio of all theones that passed, and something about the survivors as well andeverybody involved in the accident. There should be some sort ofmonument put up there for sure."

It took 30 years for a highway memorial to be erected at the siteof the Swift Current Broncos bus crash that killed four players in1986. The two-metre granite structure is in the shape of a four-leafclover with each player featured in one segment.

"Hopefully some day there'll be something nice there," saidformer NHL player Chris Joseph, whose son, Jaxon, also died.

"We don't want to wait 30 years. We still want to be around. I'dlike to see almost a little museum to walk through and stay warmkind of place, but who knows?"

The mayor of Tisdale said the crash has had a lasting impact onthe community, where hockey is a way of life. Fire and ambulancecrews from the town were the first ones to respond.

"On the fire department, we had some young kids, 20-some yearsold, and to end up there. They all left here not knowing whathappened. Not everyone could handle that," said Mayor Al Jellicoe.

"They've been talking about making something more permanent,which I hope they do. It's surprising the number of vehicles that[stop] there."

A group of parents visited the site and gave it a cleanup earlierthis year.

Michelle Straschnitzki, whose sonRyanwas paralyzed from thechest down, has only seen pictures of it.

"It's kind of become a little weather-worn, but there's somebeautiful touching pieces there that should be preserved," shesaid.

"It should be somewhere where people can still pay theirrespects and read about it, something that's also very personal
about the team."

Shumlanski said a permanent memorial isn't going to changeanything.

'"People from all over the world came and put stuff at thosecrosses and sometimes it looks a little messy, but you know what? Itmeans a lot to the people who lost their families there," he said.

"It's a spot that, no matter what, it's always going to bethere. It's not going away."