Canada mourns: 15 die when truck, hockey team bus collide

A semi-trailer slammed into a bus carrying a youth hockey team in western Canada, killing 15 people and injuring 14 in a catastrophic collision that a doctor compared to an airstrike and left the vehicles obliterated in the snow. The crash sent shockwaves through the team's small hometown and a country united by the national sport.

Emergency crews continue to block the highway on Saturday, April 7, 2018, near the area where a bus carrying a junior hockey team to a playoff game was struck by a semi Friday, north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada.  (Matt Smith/The Canadian Press via AP)

Emergency crews continue to block the highway on Saturday, April 7, 2018, near the area where a bus carrying a junior hockey team to a playoff game was struck by a semi Friday, north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada.  (Matt Smith/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadians were moved to tears on Saturday as they learned of the identities of the deceased on the bus that was driving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team to a crucial playoff game Friday against the Nipawin Hawks.

"An entire country is in shock and mourning," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. "This is every parent's worst nightmare. No one should ever have to see their child leave to play the sport they love and never come back."

This image provided by 650 CKOM/980 CJME shows emergency crews responding to the scene where a bus carrying a junior hockey team to a playoff game was struck by a semi Friday, April 6, 2018, north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada. Police say there were 28 people, including the driver, on board the bus of the Humboldt Broncos team when the crash occurred around 5 p.m. Friday on Highway 35. (650 CKOM/980 CJME via AP)

A truck drives by the welcome sign honoring the members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada, Saturday, April 7, 2018.(Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

The bus had 29 passengers, including the driver, when it crashed at about 5 p.m. on Highway 35, police said. Among the dead are Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz and radio announcer Tyler Bieber. Authorities earlier said three were in critical condition but later provided an update to say that 15 have now died.

Canadian police said the truck driver was initially detained but has since been released and provided with mental health assistance. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said it's too early to state a cause for the crash.

This Saturday, April 7, 2018 photo shows Elgar Petersen Arena, home of the Humboldt Broncos, in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada, Saturday, April 7, 2018.(Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Emergency personnel work at the scene of a fatal crash outside of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, Saturday, April, 7, 2018. A bus en route to Nipawin, foreground, carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team crashed into a truck Friday night, killing 14 and sending over a dozen more to the hospital.(Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

In a tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said he called Trudeau to offer his condolences to the families of victims.

Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks, said a semi T-boned the players' bus — an account police confirmed.

"It's a horrible accident, my God," Opp said.

Hassan Masri, an emergency room doctor at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital who has done work in war-torn Syria, said the crash reminded him of an airstrike.

Emergency personnel work at the scene of a fatal crash outside of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, Saturday, April, 7, 2018. A bus, top, en route to Nipawin carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team crashed into a truck Friday night, killing 14 and sending over a dozen more to the hospital.(Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

This aerial photo shows the wreckage of a fatal crash outside of Tisdale, Saskatchewan on Saturday, April, 7, 2018.  (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

Photographs of the wreckage showed the twisted trailer with most of its wheels in the air and the bus on its side and its back portion destroyed. The force of the crash sent both vehicles into the ditch at the northwest corner of the intersection.

Aerial footage showed the bus on its side, its roof peeled back and its front end destroyed. The trailer of the truck lay nearby in a shattered mess, with bags of its peat moss cargo scattered all around. The tractor part of the truck was intact, lying on its passenger side.

The tractor-trailer would have had to yield to a stop sign before crossing over the highway that the hockey bus was travelling on. There is a stand of trees on the southeast corner of the intersection, limiting visibility of the approach on both roads.

This aerial photo shows the wreckage of a fatal crash outside of Tisdale, Saskatchewan on Saturday, April, 7, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

The wreckage of a fatal crash outside of Tisdale, Sask., is seen Saturday, April, 7, 2018. A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team crashed into a truck en route to Nipawin for a game Friday night killing 14 and sending over a dozen more to the hospital. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

Police said a lot of issues have to be investigated, including weather conditions at the time and any mechanical issues with the vehicles.

The tragedy brought to mind an accident in 1986, when the Swift Current Broncos team bus slid off an icy highway and crashed in late December, killing four players.

The Humboldt Broncos are a close-knit team from the small city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which has a population of about 6,000. Many gathered at the community center at the hockey arena there after word of the horrific crash began to circulate.

Bill Chow, President of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, speaks during a press conference at the Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018. (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Rob Muench, Mayor of Humboldt, speaks during a press conference at the Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018.  (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench, wearing a green and yellow Broncos team jersey, hugged people Saturday morning as they came to the Elger Petersen Arena in the Saskatchewan town to comfort each other and learn more.

"It's overwhelming. It's been tough on everybody," Muench said in a phone interview. "We're a small community; some of those kids have been on the team for a number of years. A lot grew up in the community and everybody knows each other."

The team was on its way to play in Game 5 of a semi-final against the Nipawin Hawks.

"Hockey was what brought us all together and we had two communities that were rivals in the rink. To find out that it was their first responders that aided our boys just warms your heart," the mayor said as his voice cracked.

Community members listen during a press conference at the Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018. (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Curtis Zablocki, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner, speaks during a press conference at the Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018.  (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Multiple crisis workers were assisting relatives and friends.

"Everybody is just so devastated. These poor young boys," said Penny Lee, the communications manager for the town of Humboldt.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a junior 'A' hockey league under Hockey Canada, which is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It's open to North American-born players between the ages of 16 and 20.

A memorial at the stairs that lead to Elgar Petersen Arena is shown in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018. Ro (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

A memorial at the stairs that lead to Elgar Petersen Arena is shown in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018.(Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Team President Kevin Garinger said parents from across western Canada were struggling to cope with the tragedy and were rushing to the scene.

"We are heartbroken and completely devastated," Garinger said. "We will never forget the members of our Broncos family who were taken from us and who were injured."

Michelle Straschnitzki, who lives in Airdrie, Alberta, said her 18-year old son Ryan was transported to a hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

"We talked to him, but he said he couldn't feel his lower extremities so I don't know what's going on," she said. "I am freaking out. I am so sad for all of the teammates and I am losing my mind."

Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, said he knows players on the team.

A memorial at the stairs that lead to Elgar Petersen Arena is shown in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018. (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

Steve Hogle, President of the Saskatoon Blades places flowers at a memorial at the stairs that lead to Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Saturday, April 7, 2018.  (Liam Richards/The Canadian Press via AP)

"This is I would think one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained in how we grow up here," he said.

The hockey world issued messages of condolences, including Saskatchewan native Mike Babcock, who is the Toronto Maple Leafs coach.

Babcock, fighting back tears, said that "it's got to rip the heart out of your chest."

The Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets wore the name "BRONCOS" instead of their nameplates on Saturday night.

TORONTO (AP) — Bob Cole, the voice of hockey in Canada for a half century who served as the soundtrack for some of the national sport's biggest moments, has died. He was 90.

Friend and fellow broadcaster John Shannon said Cole died Wednesday night in his hometown of St. John's, the capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the network for which Cole worked, announced his death Thursday, adding daughter Megan said her father had been healthy “up until the very end.”

“He’s such a legend, such a great man,” said Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon, a Nova Scotia native. “I’ve met him a few times over the years. At charity golf tournaments in Halifax, he’d come out and support Atlantic Canadians. Amazing person, super funny. Just a great guy and obviously some of the best calls of all time.”

Known for his “Oh baby!” catchphrase, Cole called some iconic games as part of CBC's “Hockey Night in Canada." His distinctive play-by-play style added even more flavor to the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, when he did the radio broadcast, the 2002 Olympic final in Salt Lake City and numerous Stanley Cup Finals.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Cole “made every game he called sound bigger" and transcended generations by sharing his obvious passion for our game and his stunning talent for conveying hockey’s excitement and majesty with both eloquence and enthusiasm."

Cole called his first game, on radio, between Boston and Montreal in April 1969 and moved to TV in 1973. He called his last game on April 6, 2019 — the regular-season finale between the Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs — and in between was honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996, winning the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.

“The hockey world, we lost a legend,” Winnipeg Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “All the coaches around the league and all the hockey people, they trusted him. He was a true pro. You could tell him anything and he called a great game.”

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper — speaking poignantly even after his team lost a playoff game to Florida 5-3 to fall into a 3-0 hole in that series — said his passion for the game truly started by listening to Cole. Cooper went as far to say that he's “probably not coaching in this league if it wasn’t growing up and having a passion for this game because of the voice of that man.”

“It was all because of the emotion that Bob Cole brought to this game," Cooper said. “And he’s the Wayne Gretzky of announcers. My passion for this game is built on what Bob Cole said and every night watching ‘Hockey Night in Canada,' I'd turn that thing on at 5 o'clock just to hear his voice.”

Cooper met with Cole in Montreal in 2018, after a pregame skate, and was just in awe of the moment, standing alongside Cole at the broadcast position high over the ice.

“I'm not star-struck often,” Cooper said. “I was star-struck when he came down.”

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe opened his remarks between playoff games Thursday by passing along condolences to Cole's family.

“Someone who touched the game in so many ways, as an icon in our sport and the voice of hockey, not just in Toronto, but in our country,” Keefe said. “A sad day for sure.”

Added Cooper: “I’m going to miss that man. He was a superstar in this sport.”

Cole’s reach extended beyond hockey. He skipped Newfoundland at the 1971 Brier and 1975 Canadian men’s curling championship, served as quiz master on “Reach for the Top” and worked for the Newfoundland government.

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

FILE - Bob Cole attends an Order of Canada ceremony at Rideau Hall, Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario. Broadcaster Cole, the voice of hockey in Canada for a half-century, has died. He was 90. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, FIle)

FILE - Broadcaster Bob Cole looks out over the ice prior to calling his last NHL hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montreal, Saturday, April 6, 2019. Cole, the voice of hockey in Canada for a half-century, has died. He was 90. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP, FIle)

FILE - Broadcaster Bob Cole poses prior to calling his last NHL hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montreal, Saturday, April 6, 2019. Cole, the voice of hockey in Canada for a half-century, has died. He was 90. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP, FIle)