Five months ago, a tragic bus accident broke a team, shattered a town and transfixed the world. Somehow, less than half a year later, the Humboldt Broncos are back on the ice, and the town that loves them packed their arena this week for the team’s first home game since the crash that killed 16 people. What does one game mean to a town that lost everything? Will a hockey game ever be about hockey again in Humboldt? And what did it take for the team and the town to make sure there were sticks on the ice for the opening of the 2018-19 season.
Today on The Big Story, Ryan McKenna, Canadian Press correspondent for Saskatchewan, takes us back to Humboldt five months ago, and inside the arena on Wednesday night, to trace the path the town had to walk to get their beloved Broncos back into their skates, and to raise far, far too many jerseys into the rafters.