When Kyle Sargent steps onto the ice to start next year’s Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season, he’ll be wearing a new jersey.
The 20-year-old defenceman was one of 10 players selected by the Humboldt Broncos in the league’s dispersal draft on Monday.
“I’m honoured to be able to be a part of their rebuild and I’m honoured that they wanted me to represent the team going forward and to be able to play this next season in the honour and the memory of the boys that were lost,” Sargent said.
On April 6, the Broncos team bus was travelling to Nipawin for a Game 5 semi-final matchup against the Nipawin Hawks. The bus collided with a semi-truck at the intersection of Highway 35 and Highway 335. Sixteen people — including 10 players — died in the crash. Thirteen people were also injured.
“For the next few days, I just didn’t stop thinking about it,” Sargent said. “(I was) just sick to my stomach the entire time.”
Sargent said that while he wasn’t close with any of the Broncos who died, it hit the entire SJHL community hard.
“You just think about how many times you step on that bus playing junior hockey, not expecting anything like that to happen,” he explained.
Former Notre Dame Hound Ahmed Ally will also be making the journey north to play in Humboldt next season.
After going through the season playing against the Broncos, he said he didn’t want to believe he wouldn’t be facing the same team moving forward.
“To think about not having that anymore, it’s just terrifying,” Ally said.
He got the news about his new team on Monday.
“Words can’t describe,” Ally said. “I was super happy. It was something I really wanted to be able to play for those guys.”
Both Sargent and Ally are looking forward to putting on the Broncos jersey next season — and step into their new roles in Humboldt.
“You want to play in honour of those boys that were taken too young,” Sargent said. “Every game, you want to leave it all out there, because you never know when it’s going to be your last game.”
“Just being able to put that jersey on will be one of the biggest moments of my life,” Ally said. “(We’ll) try to represent Humboldt as good as the guys before did and I think that’s our main goal — just keep the legacy going and do everything for them.”
With files from CTV Regina's Joey Slattery