THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
BAY ROBERTS, N.L. — It's been 40 years since
Ed Tobin wore the yellow jersey of Ascension Collegiate's Astros, when he and
his teammates carried the Bay Roberts high school hockey team to victory at
Newfoundland's provincial championships.
Today, Ascension students poured into the
school clad in jerseys and green and yellow to honour the memory of Tobin's son
Parker, who was among 16 people killed in the Humboldt Broncos crash in
Saskatchewan.
Across the country Thursday, people showed up
to work and school decked out in sports jerseys as part of Jersey Day, inspired
by a group of British Columbia hockey moms to send a message of support for the
families who lost loved ones in the Humboldt crash.
For this small Newfoundland town, thousands
of miles away, the connection is personal and the grief intense.
Glenn Littlejohn, a childhood friend and
former teammate of Ed Tobin, was getting ready to drive his son to school on
Saturday morning when he caught the images from Saskatchewan.
"When I saw the bus and Humboldt, my
first thought was Parker," said Littlejohn.
Ed Tobin's brother still lives in the town.
One woman, standing under the Canadian, provincial and Bay Roberts flags at
half mast just down the road from the school, said she was especially struck
when she saw Parker Tobin's picture — he looked just like his uncle as a kid.
The town is holding a vigil Thursday night
for Parker and his family. Littlejohn spoke to Ed on the phone Wednesday night,
and planned to share some words from the family. He said Tobin and his wife
Rhonda feel the support from home is helping them get through the tragedy.
"It's been even beyond his wildest
beliefs," said Littlejohn. "They're so appreciative."
Jerseys were worn across the country, with
many employers encouraging staff to wear jerseys.
At Ontario's legislature, members of
provincial parliament from all parties wore jerseys during question period in
the house.
Meanwhile, Toronto's transit authority said
it was allowing employees to wear jerseys over their uniforms. And a number of
Toronto schools posted photographs on social media of students wearing their
jerseys.
Farialle Pacha, 26, an employee of a
wealth-management firm in downtown Toronto, wore her cousin's AHL sweater in
solidarity with the Broncos.
"Being Canadian and hockey being so
entrenched in our culture and it's such a terrible tragedy to have so many
young lives go in such a terrible way — my brothers play sports and I play
sports and you can't imagine something like that happening to your family —
anything you can do to show solidarity and support for those who lost those
young lives, it just seems like the right thing to do," she said.
Bailey MacLachlan, 25, said the bank she
works for sent a mass email asking people to show support. She wore a Maple
Leafs jersey.
"It really hit close to home. It was a
horrible accident," she said. "I'm part of a hockey community, so it
was something that I could really relate to. I just think it's great how all
these different towns, cities, countries have come together to show their
support and help those who are dealing with it heal."
Paramedics in Peel region, west of Toronto,
and police officers in Guelph, Ont., were among those who donned their jerseys.
In Quinte West, Ont., provincial police showed their support by having two
members of their canine unit wear jerseys and pose for a photograph alongside
uniformed officers.
In Alberta, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly
Craft donned a red Team Canada jersey to deliver a speech to the Calgary
Chamber of Commerce extolling trade between Canada and the United States on
Thursday morning.
She said she and her husband, Joe, were
"deeply saddened" by the tragedy.
On Parliament Hill, a lone hockey stick
leaned outside the Senate entrance to the Centre Block.
Political and non-political Parliament Hill
staffers donned hockey and football jerseys, or whatever sports shirts they
had. MPs, cabinet ministers and senators tweeted photos of themselves wearing
jerseys as well.
Dozens of Senate staffers jammed the Hall of
Honour for a lunch hour picture.
Among them was Isabelle Poulin, who is from
Zenon Park, Sask. She said her family regularly drove the same stretch of
highway where the accident happened, and still has close friends back home who
were affected.
"Being from home and knowing people who
knew some of the kids intimately, like my best friend's daughter is in the same
class as Xavier Labelle," Poulin said. "It just hits a little bit
closer to home to know that people you know so well like your brothers and
sisters, their children are going through all this heartache."
In Halifax, staff at Citadel High School were
dressed in the school's oversized hockey jerseys as they greeted students
arriving for morning classes.
Ryan Connors, coach of the boys' Phoenix
hockey team at Citadel, said he was devastated when news started coming in last
Friday of a team bus crash in rural Saskatchewan.
"It was surreal," he said, wearing
one of the team's black and red jerseys. "I've taken a lot of players from
this school on bus trips for the last 16 years and it was gut-wrenching just
thinking it could have happened to anyone, any time."
"Some of our kids are the same age as
the players that would have passed in this tragedy and they've been on buses
their whole lives right from novice on. That's a rite of passage — playing
hockey is being on a bus."
For his young players, Connors said Jersey
Day was a "way for them to find some peace."
Anthony Hall agreed. The 18-year-old forward
wore his Phoenix jersey to send a message to anyone affected by the tragedy,
which also left 13 injured.
"We travel on buses all the time and
these guys, they're some of your best friends, you know, you consider them your
brothers — it's your family — and just imagining that happening to your group
of guys, it's heartbreaking," he said.
Jersey Day organizer Jennifer Pinch said she
wanted Humboldt to know it's not alone and hoped participants would post a
photo of themselves in a jersey on social media with the hashtag
#jerseysforhumboldt.
Grade 12 student Mason Oates went to
Ascension Collegiate in Bay Roberts Thursday wearing his Astros jersey; Oates
views his friends on the school hockey team as a second family.
"Over the years I've travelled a lot
with my high school team," Oates said. "I can't imagine the pain that
the families are going through. If I were to get on a bus, and to lose all your
teammates and family like that it would be tragic."
Oates said he doesn't know anyone from the
Tobin family, but "still felt it" when he heard the news. The team
has talked about it and "we've all got our sticks out to it." They
all planned to attend Thursday's memorial.
"It's nice that hockey stretches out so
far. It's a small world."
- With files from Alison Auld in Halifax,
Colin Perkel in Toronto and Jordan Press in Ottawa
Apr-26-2018