Healing begins for Fraser Valley Bruins

The Fraser Valley Bruins, the B.C. major midget league team that was in that single-vehicle bus accident a week ago near Williams Lake, B.C., won’t play again this weekend.
Which means they won’t play again until after Christmas.
Their games last weekend against the Cariboo Cougars in Prince George were postponed, and may end up being cancelled, after the bus hit some black ice and ended up on its side in a ditch late on the afternoon of Dec. 11.
Pat Ansell, the Bruins’ head coach, sent me an email Thursday.
“Our games that were initially scheduled for this weekend versus the South Island Thunderbirds have been postponed to the new year,” writes Ansell, a well-known hockey coach on the Lower Mainland of B.C., who played goal for the Regina Pats (1976-78). “We simply don’t have enough healthy bodies to play.
“As you can imagine, a number of guys have bumps and bruises (and) we have discovered another separated shoulder.”
Ansell went on to add that “through the generous work of BC Hockey they have compiled a list of counselors that we will take full advantage of for both our players and their families.”
Ansell then hit the nail directly on the head with something that we far too often forget.
“We have to remember that these guys are 15 years of age and that we have to take care of them,” he said.
Ansell didn’t suffer a broken nose, as was originally reported.
He said that he is “pretty sore” and received “a few stitches.”
Devin Potomak, a 16-year-old defenceman, is the player with the broken collarbone.
Goaltender Mackenzie Skapski, 15, was the most seriously injured player. He was airlifted to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver and underwent surgery to repair head and facial injuries.
Thankfully, Skapski was released from hospital on Wednesday night and now is at home with family.
“In a difficult situation like this,” Ansell writes, “it is truly remarkable in the number of people from the hockey community from across the country who have offered their support to our guys.
“The community of Williams Lake was unbelievable and it has just continued.
“We are working on getting better and I can tell you that I can’t wait to get to the rink to see our kids and how they are handling themselves.”
Let us all take pause and be thankful that all of the people on that bus survived and will live to take the bus to another hockey game.
Oh, it could have been so much worse!