Jersey Gala pays tribute to victims of Humboldt Broncos crash

The rafters are reserved for hockey players with a lasting legacy. On Friday night in St. Albert, banners of the four victims of the Humboldt bus crash looked over the crowd.

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Oilers alumni and Ron MacLean, of Hockey Night in Canada fame, were among the hundreds of jersey-wearing attendees at the Enjoy Centre on Friday to help raise money in memory of the young men. Stephen Wack, Conner Lukan, Jaxon Joseph and Logan Hunter started their hockey trajectory in St. Albert, a future cut short by the devastating crash on April 6.

Alan Wack said it was difficult to wear his son's jersey Friday afternoon. After all, he wished Stephen was still wearing it on the ice. But he said knowing the money from the gala would go toward a scholarship in Stephen's name was assurance his legacy would live on.

"This is a chance for our son's memory and the St. Albert boys to not be forgotten," he said.

"it's a really bad situation with a really thoughtful gesture at the end of it." 

Each scholarship is unique to its player. Wack's is partly written in his own words, fragments taken from his post-secondary applications and the movies he made as a videographer, his dad said.

The scholarship will be reserved for an honour roll high school student with a passion for hockey, but who might also be interested in pursuing other interests. 

"It's about the intangibles you bring on and off the ice. We think that's what Stephen would have liked in a scholarship," his brother Justin Wack said. 

The St. Albert-Humboldt Remembrance Committee had already gathered about half of their $500,000 target ahead of the gala, through online campaigns and sponsorships leading up to the event, said chairperson Nolan Crouse. Most of the money will go toward the scholarships, while some funds have already been used to build bronze hockey stick statues outside the Akinsdale arena and memorial benches around the city.

Logan Hunter's bench looks out onto an outdoor rink near his childhood home where he spent hundreds of hours honing his skills, said mother Shauna Nordstrom.

"We go there, friends and family, and sit and have a coffee and tell a fun Logan story because there's a lot of them," she said.

"The community just wanted to do something and have scholarships in the name of our boys. It does help, and for Logan it puts a smile on his face too. The fact is we have to look at some of the good here and focus on that. It's not easy." 

Crouse said the gala was about more than raising funds for the scholarships and the memorial projects. It was an opportunity for the families and community to draw additional closure six months after the crash. 

"It's about legacy work for the four players. So if we can have their legacy live on in different fashions, that's what it's really all about," he said.