Broncos player to be remembered with hockey day in Saskatoon

Friends, family and their supporters will be gathering this weekend to play hockey in memory of one of the players killed in the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy.

Evan Thomas was among 16 people who died after the SJHL team’s bus collided with a semi truck that blew a stop sign on April 6, 2018 on a rural highway near Nipawin.

Thomas’ father Scott said Friday that friends and family got together the day after his memorial to play hockey as a way to celebrate Evan’s life. This year will see a repeat of the event but expanded in scope.

“We thought we’d do the same thing this year and then all of a sudden, like so many things in Saskatoon in the hockey world, so many people jumped on board and said, ‘What can we do?’ ” Scott said. “So we made it a little bit bigger this year.”

The Evan Thomas Memorial Hockey Day will see people gather for a social Saturday afternoon, followed by three hockey games. Evan’s sister will host a girls game, Scott will take part in a senior men’s game, and a host of Evan’s friends and former teammates and opponents will play a junior men’s game.

“We just want to give everybody a chance to have a bunch of smiles,” he said. “You know, we’ve spent this last year thinking about the tragedy and how Evan died and how his teammates died. We just want to celebrate his life.”

Scott said he hopes to make the day an annual tradition.