Following last week’s tragic bus accident involving the Humboldt Broncos, the hockey community has quickly banded together to offer up help.

The news hit everyone in the organization hard, especially given the familiarity with the bus-ride lifestyle.

“We’ve all been on a bus,” said head coach Mike Vellucci. “It’s a tragedy that happened. In 25 years as a coach and then as a player, I’ve been on those bus rides. We feel for them.”

“Every single one of us in hockey has been on a bus at one point or another,” said Checkers COO Tera Black. “Those guys all came up through junior or college hockey where that’s the way of life. It was a tragedy that was so close to home that, you know hockey, everyone is so close and it’s such a small world so if you didn’t know somebody on that bus you know somebody who knows somebody on that bus.”

“Obviously when you wake up and see that news it just kind of hits everybody pretty hard in the heart,” said Trevor Carrick. “Each and every one of us has been on a bus ride so you hate to see that. The least we can do is donate and give back to those families.”

Spearheaded by the captains, the players and the coaching staff pitched in to raise $3,000 amongst themselves.

“The players were thinking about it and I was thinking about it,” said Vellucci. “So I went to the leaders and asked what they wanted to do and told them we would contribute too. Everybody wanted to do something, small as it may be.”

The rest of the organization pitched in from there, with the front office staff donating to the cause and Checkers owner Michael Kahn agreeing to match the funds raised by the group.

“Our owner talked to Mike Vellucci to try and figure out what’s the best way to move forward in showing our support,” said Black. “It was definitely a collective effort and an opportunity to work together towards providing some sort of relief in any way that we can.”

All in all, the Checkers are set to donate over $6,000 to the Humboldt Broncos, a community that everyone continues to keep in their thoughts.

“The players and staff felt a passionate desire to really do something, anything, that would be helpful,” said Black.

“Our organization and organizations around the hockey community have done a great job,” said Carrick. “To see Michael Kahn and the staff pitching in, it’s great.”