Calgary. They had to work on scheduling a memorial service and, as ugly as it may have seemed, they had to decide when the Broncos would return to game action.
A decision was made to postpone four games, which would give the Broncos’ management and players — and their fans — an opportunity to grieve, to attend funerals, and to catch their breath.
Players were told they could return to their homes for a day or two, but they were asked to return for a memorial service that was to be held January 4 in the Broncos’ home arena, the Centennial Civic Centre.
Defenceman Bob Wilkie went home to Calgary, but found it anything but easy.
“I found it really hard to see my friends and family,” he says. “Mom was dead set against me going back to Swift Current. From her perspective, she had just about lost her oldest son, so she continually asked, ‘Why would you want to go back?’”
Which, from a mother’s perspective, seems like a reasonable question.
Her son’s response was, “I have to … for them and for me.” Wilkie felt he was close to his goal of playing in the NHL, and he wasn’t about to stop at this particular point in time. “I have to continue on,” he told his mother.
But before he could do that, there was a memorial service and funerals.
Three of the players who died in the accident were from Saskatchewan and one was from Alberta. Chris Mantyka’s funeral was in Saskatoon, Trent Kresse’s in Kindersley, and Scott Kruger’s in Swift Current. Brent Ruff was from Warburg, Alberta, which is where his funeral would be held.
Management split up the Broncos players to ensure that there were players at each of the funerals.
Tracy Egeland, the second-youngest player on the Broncos, had grown up on the family farm near Lethbridge. During his minor hockey career he had been coached by Randy Ruff, older brother of Lindy Ruff, the long-time head coach of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Brent Ruff, Randy and Lindy’s younger brother, sometimes visited Lethbridge, which allowed him and Egeland to become friends. When they found themselves teammates on the Broncos, it was inevitable that the two sixteen-year-olds would become the best of friends.
“From day one,” Egeland told the Buffalo News , “we really hit it off. It wasn’t too often we were apart. Without a bus accident, I’d be talking to Brent quite a bit today regardless of where our careers and lives had taken us.
“We were going to develop into something where we would push each other and just know we had a friend to rely on no matter what. You don’t meet too many people in hockey you stay friends with, because you always go from city to city. But I know Brent would have been one constant friend I always would have had.”
Instead of living out those dreams, Egeland was in Warburg, a pallbearer for his best friend’s funeral.
Meanwhile, Wilkie attended Scott Kruger’s funeral in Swift Current.
“It was one of the saddest things I have ever been a part of,” he recalls. “The church was packed and many people, including me, were sobbing uncontrollably. Scotty had been my little buddy.”
Wilkie was not yet eighteen years of age. He had survived the bus accident and now he was going to view a friend in an open casket. It wasn’t easy. And when he looked into the casket, he didn’t see his pal.
“It wasn’t the Scotty Kruger I remembered,” Wilkie says. “His hair was a different colour – it was pale, kind of rose-coloured. He was all made up, not natural-looking, and he was in a suit and tie. He certainly wasn’t dressed the way he usually dressed.”
Scott Kruger was a little man playing a big man’s game. There was no getting around it — he was only five-foot-four and 135 pounds. But, as they say, he played a lot larger than that and, naturally, he was a fan favourite.
A local boy, Kruger had put up 148 points, including 111 assists, for the junior A Swift Current Indians in 1984–85. In 1985–86, he totalled
A decision was made to postpone four games, which would give the Broncos’ management and players — and their fans — an opportunity to grieve, to attend funerals, and to catch their breath.
Players were told they could return to their homes for a day or two, but they were asked to return for a memorial service that was to be held January 4 in the Broncos’ home arena, the Centennial Civic Centre.
Defenceman Bob Wilkie went home to Calgary, but found it anything but easy.
“I found it really hard to see my friends and family,” he says. “Mom was dead set against me going back to Swift Current. From her perspective, she had just about lost her oldest son, so she continually asked, ‘Why would you want to go back?’”
Which, from a mother’s perspective, seems like a reasonable question.
Her son’s response was, “I have to … for them and for me.” Wilkie felt he was close to his goal of playing in the NHL, and he wasn’t about to stop at this particular point in time. “I have to continue on,” he told his mother.
But before he could do that, there was a memorial service and funerals.
Three of the players who died in the accident were from Saskatchewan and one was from Alberta. Chris Mantyka’s funeral was in Saskatoon, Trent Kresse’s in Kindersley, and Scott Kruger’s in Swift Current. Brent Ruff was from Warburg, Alberta, which is where his funeral would be held.
Management split up the Broncos players to ensure that there were players at each of the funerals.
Tracy Egeland, the second-youngest player on the Broncos, had grown up on the family farm near Lethbridge. During his minor hockey career he had been coached by Randy Ruff, older brother of Lindy Ruff, the long-time head coach of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Brent Ruff, Randy and Lindy’s younger brother, sometimes visited Lethbridge, which allowed him and Egeland to become friends. When they found themselves teammates on the Broncos, it was inevitable that the two sixteen-year-olds would become the best of friends.
“From day one,” Egeland told the Buffalo News , “we really hit it off. It wasn’t too often we were apart. Without a bus accident, I’d be talking to Brent quite a bit today regardless of where our careers and lives had taken us.
“We were going to develop into something where we would push each other and just know we had a friend to rely on no matter what. You don’t meet too many people in hockey you stay friends with, because you always go from city to city. But I know Brent would have been one constant friend I always would have had.”
Instead of living out those dreams, Egeland was in Warburg, a pallbearer for his best friend’s funeral.
Meanwhile, Wilkie attended Scott Kruger’s funeral in Swift Current.
“It was one of the saddest things I have ever been a part of,” he recalls. “The church was packed and many people, including me, were sobbing uncontrollably. Scotty had been my little buddy.”
Wilkie was not yet eighteen years of age. He had survived the bus accident and now he was going to view a friend in an open casket. It wasn’t easy. And when he looked into the casket, he didn’t see his pal.
“It wasn’t the Scotty Kruger I remembered,” Wilkie says. “His hair was a different colour – it was pale, kind of rose-coloured. He was all made up, not natural-looking, and he was in a suit and tie. He certainly wasn’t dressed the way he usually dressed.”
Scott Kruger was a little man playing a big man’s game. There was no getting around it — he was only five-foot-four and 135 pounds. But, as they say, he played a lot larger than that and, naturally, he was a fan favourite.
A local boy, Kruger had put up 148 points, including 111 assists, for the junior A Swift Current Indians in 1984–85. In 1985–86, he totalled
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