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Injured Humboldt players get visit from Stanley Cup

In this April, 10, 2018 file photo, the sun rises as a cross made out of hockey sticks is seen at a makeshift memorial at the intersection of of a fatal bus crash near Tisdale, Saskatchewan. A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team crashed into a truck killing several and injuring others last Friday. (Jonathan Hayward / Canadian Press via AP)
Associated Press

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan – Injured Humboldt Broncos players got a visit from the Stanley Cup.

Tom Straschnitzki – whose 19-year-old son, Ryan, was badly injured in the junior hockey team’s bus crash – was in a waiting area at Royal University Hospital on Friday night when a large box was wheeled in.

Recognizing the box from Stanley Cup presentations, he immediately suspected what was inside, and his suspicions were confirmed when someone wearing white gloves lifted the trophy from the case.

Tom Straschnitzki said Ryan’s bed was the first stop, and he says his son’s eyes grew wide as it was carried in. Ryan asked to see name of Jonathan Toews, the Chicago Blackhawks forward who visited the hospital earlier in the day to deliver jerseys the Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets wore last weekend with Broncos nameplates on them.

Tom Straschnitzki says Ryan was asked if he wanted to touch the cup, but he wanted to wait until he wins it someday.

“They know the tradition,” Tom Straschnitzki said, noting the other injured players didn’t want to touch the trophy, either.

The Straschnitzki are from Airdrie, Alberta. The family said 19-year-old Ryan couldn’t feel his legs after the crash.

Sixteen people have died as a result of a crash last week when the Broncos’ bus collided with a semi-truck just south of Nipawin. Another 13 people were injured.