Going the distance for Humboldt Broncos

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This article was published 07/05/2018 (2710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With only a hockey stick in hand and the words “Humboldt Strong” draped across his back, Rance Cardinal is a man with only one goal in mind — make it to Humboldt, Sask.

Cardinal has spent nearly a month walking along the highways of northwestern Ontario and Manitoba as part of a nearly 1,200-kilometre journey in support of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team.

The former junior hockey player from Lac Seul, Ont., was in Brandon on the weekend, and said the amount of support he has gotten, both on the road and on social media, has been tremendous.

“It just shows how much Canada has come together,” he said.

Cardinal was motivated to act following the deadly bus crash on April 6 that involved the Humboldt Broncos. Sixteen people were killed after the team’s bus collided with a truck south of Nipawin, Sask., leaving several others injured.

Cardinal himself played for the Saddle Lake Warriors junior hockey team in Alberta for three seasons, starting when he was 17.

In 2013, at the age of 19, Cardinal lost his 17-year-old brother and then a teammate the year after from a car accident.

When he heard about the bus crash in Saskatchewan, all of those past losses seemed to come back to him, he said. “I don’t want anybody from Humboldt … to go the same route I went.”

Cardinal began his journey on April 11 from Sioux Lookout, Ont., a community more than 200 kilometres east of Kenora.

As a former player, he couldn’t help but compare the experience to a 60-minute hockey game.

“Well you know for the first period, you just want to get the first goal out of the way and set the tempo,” he said. “When it comes to the second period, you just want to get yourself going. Motivation’s there and come third period, all lines firing.”

After staying the night in Brandon on Saturday, Cardinal started up again on Sunday morning, heading south alongside 18th Street North and turning west across Victoria Avenue, before meeting up with the Trans-Canada Highway.

Along the way, Cardinal came across Brayden Higham and Melissa Vincent, who pulled their vehicle over to the side of the road to offer Cardinal some words of encouragement.

“What he’s doing is a great thing,” Higham said, after taking the opportunity to give Cardinal a bottle of water and shake his hand.

“It’s amazing to see somebody whose not doing anything for themselves, but to uplift spirits,” Vincent said.

Cardinal also met up with Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest, who was sent a Broncos jersey from the mayor of Humboldt so he could pass it on to Cardinal. The two were pictured together in a tweet Chrest put out on Sunday.

Cardinal figures he has about three-and-a-half weeks left before he makes it to Humboldt and although he may be walking on his own, Cardinal won’t be arriving in Humboldt alone.

Along with having the support of family, who have stayed with him the entire time, Cardinal has a Facebook page set up called Humboldt Strong WALK — Rance Cardinal, of which more than 6,000 people have signed up as members.

“For the people of Humboldt, I’m going to send my strength and we’re going to get this healing process done,” he said.

» mlee@brandonsun.com

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