Windsor Spitfires billet coordinator Cathi Baillie says she watched the vigil for the Broncos and believes many in the front few rows were billet parents.
The tragic bus crash of the Humboldt Broncos over the weekend is hitting close to home for local billet families.
Windor Spitfires billet coordinator Cathi Baillie says she watched the vigil for the Broncos and believes many in the front few rows were billet parents.
Speaking on the Lynn Martin Show on AM800, Baillie says she is heartbroken over the deaths, she says the players become part of your family and the bus trips are tough.
"We take care of them, you love them you have teammates around, not only your players but other teammates around your dining room table and in your home having fun with the boys and you hear the laughter and then you send them off and they go on a bus," says Baillie.
"I know for myself, you have one ear open until that door opens and they come home form a bus trip," says Baillie. "Whether its to London or the Soo, you worry." She adds, "you have these kids living in your home eating, sleeping, going out with you sitting, talking. You don't just talk to these kids about hockey, you talk with them about what's going on, you help them with their homework. It's like having your own children in your home"
Meanwhile, students went back to school today in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, where crisis response teams were in place to help any children or teens struggling to cope with Friday's hockey team bus crash that killed 15 people.
Kevin Garinger is both director of education for the Horizon School Division and president of the Humboldt Broncos.
He says some of the junior hockey players were students, others were former students and that some of the teachers billeted the players in their homes