Saskatchewan junior hockey teams get mental health fund after Broncos crash

HUMBOLDT, Sask. – Saskatchewan hockey officials have announced an assistance program for players and their families following a bus crash that killed 15 people.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League says the fund will provide mental health help for everyone involved in its dozen teams across the province, including the Humboldt Broncos.

The Broncos were heading to a playoff game Friday when their bus collided with a truck at an intersection north of Tisdale.

Fourteen others were injured.

Former National Hockey League player Sheldon Kennedy was at the fund announcement and says many players will need long-term help to deal with the trauma.

Kennedy survived a bus crash in 1986 that killed four of his teammates with the Swift Current Broncos.

“We know more today than we ever did back then,” Kennedy said.

“The scars that last a lifetime are real.”