Bus Ride From Hell
It sent a deafening silence throughout the hockey world and beyond.
On December 30, 1986 at 3:45 PM, the unthinkable happened. Two days after the Christmas break, the Western Hockey League Swift Current Broncos embarked on a two and a half-hour drive to Regina, Saskatchewan, when its team-owned bus, a 1968 Western Flyer, skidded off the highway overpass, hit a sign then slid down an embankment nose first. It flew approximately 50 feet in the air, landing on its side when it skidded to a halt.
Four players were dead: Scott Kruger, Trent Kresse, Brent Ruff (Lindy Ruff’s brother), and Chris Mantyka.
The scene was chaotic. The ditch was strewn with sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and personal items. Two ambulances drove back and forth to the Swift Current Union Hospital, and passing motorists were flagged down by police to help transport the less seriously injured for medical attention.
The day before, temperatures were unseasonably warm – almost t-shirt weather, but there was a weather advisory in effect at the time of the crash – cold and blizzard conditions.
The plan was to have the bus loaded and ready to go by 3:00 PM in order to arrive at the rink in Regina by 6:45. However, Scotty Kruger forgot his dress clothes and was ordered to go home and get them. (The players often traveled in comfortable clothes then changed on the bus when they reached their destination.)
The bus still had the old green and blue from when it served the Lethbridge, Alberta team. There was no bathroom on board, some of the windows were taped together, and the seats had tears and many stains. It hit a patch of black ice, and in the aftermath, inside the bus was a scene out of a horror movie.
One of the players, wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and no shoes, was knocked out and woke up on top of another. The bus was on its side. In searching for his shoes, he went back to where he was sitting, lifted up a seat that had been torn off, and saw the legs of a teammate, whose torso had been buried underneath the bus. He then discovered another player, whose upper body was pinned inside with his legs under the bus – his arms reaching out for help as he died in front of him.
Kruger and Kresse played on the same line, had adjacent lockers, were friends and always together. They were found two feet apart from each other. At the time, the two were both were tied for second in team scoring, behind Joe Sakic.
Sakic got out of the bus by climbing through the shattered windshield.
“I was sitting at the front of the bus. Sheldon Kennedy and I were probably talking about the Christmas holidays we just had.”
The four players were playing a card game at the back of the bus. The coroner said they died of trauma to the spinal cord.
“It was halfway through the year, so it was tough getting back into the season,” adds Sakic. “That was difficult – the first game back. The season after, we did real well. I think we finished second or third and got knocked out in the second round.
“It pulled the whole city even closer. Everybody, right from day one, was so good to all the players. It was our first year there. They tried to make us feel at home. Even after that, they pulled together even more.”
Close to 4,000 attended the memorial service held at the Swift Current Centennial Civic Centre. Sadly, the Krugers’ uncle, Herman Kruger (67), suffered a fatal heart attack on the way to it.
Joe Sakic kept it to himself. He will rarely talk about it. ”The best thing was during practices and games – that was the best time to get away. You just focused on hockey.
“It was the first time a tragedy happened in my life. Kind of reality checks in. You’re a little more careful about the things you decide to do. You weigh the options, I guess.”
This incident was the first fatal crash in WHL history.
