On the afternoon of December 30, 1986 the Swift Current Broncos bus went off the road and crashed in poor weather en route to a road game in Regina. Four players - Brent Ruff, Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, and Chris Mantyka - died in the crash. Today is the 25th anniversary of that accident, which is surely one of the darkest moments in the history of the WHL.
Take a minute (or more!) from your day today to remember the accident, the players that died, and the ones who survived but have had to deal with the effects for a quarter century now.
In the aftermath of the accident, the Broncos retired the numbers of the four players, and the league named its Player of the Year trophy the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy after them.
On a brighter note, the crash also gave life to one of the WHL's most emotional GOOD stories ever as well. Just a year and a half after the accident, the Broncos won the 1989 Memorial Cup with a roster that included six players from the team involved in the bus crash: Dan Lambert, Sheldon Kennedy, Trevor Kruger, Peter Soberlak, Tim Tisdale, and Bob Wilkie.
1 comment:
Alan, really appreciate this story. My wife went to high school with Chris. Nice to have the memory live on. Keep up the good work.
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