LAS VEGAS (AP) Late Humboldt Broncos coach Darcy Haugan was honored with the inaugural Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award on Wednesday
night
Adidas Jonathan Bernier Jersey , and 10 of the surviving players were reunited for the first time since the bus crash that killed 16 people.The
players donned gold Broncos sweaters at the NHL Awards, 2 1/2 months after the
junior team’s bus collided with a semitrailer at an intersection in rural
Saskatchewan. Three of the survivors were unable to attend the awards
show.Haugan was remembered for telling his players ”it’s a great day to be a
Bronco” before each game. The O’Ree award, named for the NHL’s first black
player, is presented to an individual who, through hockey, has positively
impacted his or her community, culture or society.”We can cry together, we can
laugh together, we can do everything together and just kind of heal in our own
way,” said Tyler Smith, who suffered nerve damage and significant injuries to
his left side, including a broken collarbone and shoulder blade. ”It’s a
blessing to be able to be here together. We’re all going to be Broncos forever,
and no matter what day it is, it’s a great day to be a Bronco.”Members of the
hockey team at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland
Adidas Tobias Rieder Jersey , Florida, which won a state championship 11 days after 14 students and three staff members were fatally shot in February,
also were recognized, as were survivors and first responders of the Route 91
Harvest festival mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1.”The hockey family across
the whole world, I’m very thankful for it. It’s something you don’t really
expect,” said Broncos alternate captain Kaleb Dahlgren, who suffered skull and
spinal fractures. ”You grow up with these people in your life and you consider
them family. You’re with them every day and so hockey is a family community. The
support we’ve received from everybody has been very, very, very generous and
we’re all thankful for that. It makes the healing process easier.”The NHL and
NHLPA hope to continue the healing on Aug. 24, when Washington Capitals forward
Chandler Stephenson, a Saskatoon native, will bring the Stanley Cup to Elgar
Petersen Arena in Humboldt, as part of an on-ice event that will include an
on-ice skills competition between NHL players.”I got the opportunity to meet the
Broncos yesterday and their fighting spirit rubs off on you,” said Tampa Bay
Lightning Victor Hedman
Adidas Kyle Brodziak Jersey , who was awarded with the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman. ”After those tragedies, the hockey community shows that
everyone is together. This is more than just a game, we are family.”It’s such a
special place, too, in Vegas. What they went through in October and the way this
community rallied together with the hockey team, and the way the performed I
think it’s important for me to acknowledge that.”Golden Knights William Karlsson
and Deryk Engelland, coach Gerard Gallant and the team’s general manager George
McPhee — all four of whom won awards – joined the first responders and survivors
honored on stage midway through the show.Engelland, who took home the Mark
Messier Leadership Award, said the touching and now infamous ”We Are Vegas
Strong” speech he delivered before the Golden Knights’ home opener will always
be one of the biggest moments of his hockey career.”Once I knew I was doing it,
that’s pretty much all that was going through my head for about four or five
days, so I didn’t want to screw that up,” Engelland said. ”It got us embedded in
the community and the community embedded in us. Guys really took it upon
themselves to keep winning for the people that were affected and the city. The
excitement after every goal during every game really lifted every guy in our
locker room.”New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall, who was awarded the Hart
Trophy as the league’s MVP, said he was touched by all three ceremonies that
recognized the tragedies that took place during the season.”Three terrible
tragedies
Adidas Paul Thompson Jersey , three things that should never happen, we should never have to go through as a society,” Hall said. ”As a community, as a
hockey community, you try and help everyone around you, you try and rally and
just be a kind person to one another and hopefully that makes someone feel
better.”— A 36-goal scorer is moving closer to home and couldn’t be happier
about it.No, the other one.James van Riemsdyk signed a $35 million, five-year
contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, the second-richest deal signed
by an NHL unrestricted free agent when the market opened and John Tavares left
the Islanders for his hometown team in Toronto.It’s the kind of long-term,
big-money contract general manager Ron Hextall has been unwilling to hand out to
free agents, though van Riemsdyk became an exception.”The term we could live
with,” Hextall said. ”We can manage our way around the salary cap. We’ve looked
up, down and all around at different projections for the next few years and we
felt comfortable with the term and the player.”Van Riemsdyk will count $7
million against the salary cap through 2022-23, which is currently third on the
Flyers behind captain Claude Giroux at $8.275 million and winger Jakub Voracek
at $8.25 million. Taken by Philadelphia second overall behind Patrick Kane in
the 2007 draft
Adidas Troy Brouwer Jersey , van Riemsdyk played with Giroux and Voracek during his first stint and talked to them before picking the Flyers over other
interested teams.The 29-year-old wasn’t likely to return to Toronto even before
the Maple Leafs won the Tavares sweepstakes. But the Middletown, New Jersey,
native also grew up rooting for the New York Rangers and picked the Flyers in
large part because of familiarity .”There were a couple different teams in the
mix,” van Riemsdyk said. ”I’m happy to be coming to Philadelphia, and I think
it’s going to be a great fit.”Van Riemsdyk set a career high with 36 goals last
season, a year after putting up a career-high 62 points. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound
winger who was traded to the Maple Leafs in 2012 isn’t a fundamentally different
player now but gained confidence and experience from a bigger role in Toronto
the past six seasons.”I think my whole game has definitely expanded,” van
Riemsdyk said. ”Style-wise, I think I’m still very similar. I think I’m still a
cerebral type of player who can skate well and have good offensive instincts and
can make the smart plays in all three zones.”He has to be for the Flyers to make
this type of commitment. This is by far Hextall’s biggest free agent signing and
Philadelphia’s richest since giving goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov $41.88 million on
a nine-year deal in 2011.Bryzgalov is retired and still collecting $1.6 million
a year from the Flyers through 2026-27. As Bryzgalov was tweeting from Russia’s
World Cup game against Spain, the Flyers were introducing van Riemsdyk, who they
hope will be a far better use of money with an eye toward contending for the
Stanley Cup in the coming years.”Our philosophy four years ago was to get our
cap in order and gather young assets,” Hextall said. ”We’ve kind of been through
that process now. It’s coming to fruition in terms of guys we have on our team
and where we can add to strengthen our team, we want to do it.”—
