Strathmore pays tribute to Bronco victims

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

When the news of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash ripped across the country like wildfire, it hit home in every big city and small rural town.
Thousands of teams each season pile into buses and make long journeys to other towns to play the game they love.
Donations were made and still continue to pour in, while athletes and political figures lend an ear and a hand in support of the devastated hockey team.
The Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights showed their support for the team by wearing Bronco decals on the back of their helmets. During the warm up of the regular season finale at the Scotiabank Saddledome on April 7, the Flames also paid tribute to their neighbouring province.
Prior to each home game, the Flames, along with the six of the seven Canadian NHL teams, award one kid the chance to skate with the home team during warm up and stand on the ice with the starters for the anthem as part of the Scotiabank Skater program.
Following the tragic events of April 6, the Flames let the selected skater go out on the ice with the players carrying the Saskatchewan provincial flag. Selected to carry the flag was Nolan McKinnon, a nine-year-old minor hockey player from Strathmore.
“Anyone can enter this contest to skate with the Flames. We found out we won the contest a few weeks ago and that Nolan would be skating April 7 with the Flames,” said Nolan’s mother, Heather McKinnon.
It wasn’t until the McKinnon family showed up to the Dome that they realized the significance of the pre-game skate.
“The representative from the team told us that they were going to change things up and have him skate with the flag,” said Heather. “That really meant a lot to us. I’m from Gull Lake. I have skated near Humboldt growing up and have friends there still.”
Winning the Central Alberta Hockey League title and burying 21 goals and 31 points suddenly seemed small when Nolan stepped out onto the ice in front of a capacity crowd.
Nolan jumped on the ice along with the starters, waving the green and gold, as the crowd went crazy.
“It was pretty exciting,” said Nolan, who is the rare breed that is a Flames and Edmonton Oilers fan. “I got to go on the ice with the flag once (Jon) Gillies went on the ice. It was pretty fun.”
Skating a few laps with the Flames, Nolan remained on the ice for both national anthems and a moment of silence at centre ice in front of his idol, Kris Versteeg. After the ceremony, he joined his parents and younger sister in the stands to watch the Flames skate to a 7-1 victory over their new Pacific Division rivals.
Sadly, that wasn’t the only way Strathmore was impacted by the disaster.
Luckily, there were no Strathmore residents involved in the tragedy. Unfortunately, there was one former UFA Bison involved.
Ryan Straschnitzki was enjoying his first season with the Broncos and second season at the Junior A level.
The 18-year-old blue liner escaped with his life from the wreck that killed 15 people from the organization, but broke his back. It was reported that he had successful surgery that lasted nearly seven hours, but he was told that he would be paralyzed from the chest down, while still being able to move his arms and head.
“It’s just something you don’t even think about. That kind of crash could happen to anyone,” said former Bison General Manager Wayne Hansen. “I rode the bus for five years in the Western Hockey League and drove tour buses for 12 years after that before getting on with the City of Calgary.
“Hearing that news made for a really tough weekend for everyone in the hockey community.”
Straschnitzki, an Airdrie product, was the last defenceman released by the Bisons during training camp for the 2015-16 season. In 67 career games with the Leduc Oil Kings, he scored six goals and supplied 11 assists over two seasons. He was also a member of the Oil Kings that eliminated the Foothills CFR Chemicals Bisons in the Alberta Midget Hockey League final for the 2016-17 season.
“After he played one season with the Oil Kings, he was allowed to go back there for his second season and we fully supported it. He’s a great kid and a great defenceman,” said Hansen.
In the Calgary Herald’s report about the former Bison-affiliated player, Ryan’s father Tom said that his son looked to his mother and said that he now plans on working towards the goal of playing on the Olympic sledge hockey team.