From the Humboldt Broncos to UAA, a survivor of a deadly bus crash plays for those who can’t

Brayden Camrud plays hockey because he loves it and he’s good at it — and because he can.

Camrud, a freshman on the UAA hockey team, is a survivor of the crash that killed 16 people aboard the Humboldt Broncos hockey team bus in April 2018.

Of the 13 survivors, he said he is one of only three still playing hockey and is the only one playing NCAA Division I hockey.

“It’s kind of the reason I kept playing hockey, for the people who couldn’t,” Camrud said Wednesday after practice at the Seawolf Sports Complex. “To be some kind of hope that you can always find a way to push through things.”

Camrud, 21, suffered a severe concussion and nerve damage in his left arm, the latter of which initially caused him to lose feeling in the arm. Now it can send pain from his wrist all the way up his neck if he gets hit the wrong way.

The bus crash sent shock waves across Canada and the hockey world, where “Humboldt strong” became a rallying cry. Thousands of people left hockey sticks outside their doors in tribute to the Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, who lost 10 players and six adults affiliated with the team when a truck driver T-boned their bus while they were en route to a road game.

After an offseason filled with funerals and bed rest, Camrud returned to the Broncos for the 2018-19 season, when his 27 goals and 28 assists in 48 games attracted UAA’s attention. His new teammates are well aware of his history, but they don’t talk about it, UAA sophomore Tanner Schachle said.

“It’s kind of a don’t ask, don’t tell thing for us,” Schachle said. “For most of us, we were playing junior hockey when it happened, so it was easy to relate because you’re on the bus all the time.”

[Humboldt Broncos return to ice 5 months after bus crash killed 10 teammates and 6 others]

Camrud said he’ll talk about the crash and its aftermath if people ask.

“I don’t want to say I’ve moved past it," he said. “I’ll always think about my teammates and my coaches. I guess I’ve come to terms with it. That truck driver didn’t wake up that day with the intent to hit our bus. You wish you could prevent it but there’s nothing anyone can do.”

And so he stays connected to the other players who survived, and he keeps playing hockey.

Camrud said he chose to play for UAA because he thought he could get playing time right away, and so far he hasn’t been disappointed.

He’s part of a talented freshman class that has helped the Seawolves go 2-1-2 in their last five games and 2-4-2 overall. He has one goal and two assists, and last weekend his second-round shootout goal lifted the Seawolves past Alabama Huntsville after the teams skated to a 4-4 draw.

Whether it’s his nature or the fact that he has borne unthinkable sorrow, Camrud has a goofy side that he shares easily.

He hates the name Brayden, he said, which he said his mother got from a soap opera. Lucky for him he plays a sport where nicknames are pretty much mandatory, so to his teammates he’s “Camo.”

He has the same birthday as his mom, Amy, and he said usually he fares better than she does when it comes to birthday loot. “I usually do the, ‘I’m your present!’ for her,” he said as he spread his arms open.

He isn’t homesick for Saskatoon but he desperately misses his dog, Bella, a border collie-blue heeler mix he calls “my best friend.” Bella was a puppy when Camrud got her from a Humboldt family not long after the bus crash, and although his parents weren’t immediately on board with adopting a dog, they gave in — partly, he said, because of the crash. “Yeah,” he said, “I played that card.”

He picked No. 40 for his college jersey in part because it reminds him of his parents and in part because it honors UAA. His dad, Curtis, has a collection of hockey memorabilia and his first autographed and framed jersey is that of Henrik Zetterberg, the 2008 Stanley Cup MVP for the Detroit Red Wings, who wore No. 40.

“And I knew this was the 40th year of Seawolves hockey, and my mom’s favorite number is 4, so there’s a lot of little things going into it,” he said.

After Camrud scored his first college goal, his mom texted him a description of his dad’s reaction as they followed the game online.

“I could close my eyes and see it,” he said. ”My dad jumped in the air with his fist pumping and tears in his eyes.”

Last week at Alabama Huntsville, Camrud didn’t have to imagine his dad’s reaction when he scored the shootout goal. His parents were able to attend the games because his dad was nearby in Tennessee on a business trip and his mom tagged along.

“I have a history of doing pretty good in the shootouts, and I wanted to do something pretty dazzling but I learned it was sudden-death,” Camrud said. “I tried to throw off the goalie with a little deception but he didn’t move, so in the last second I made a little move and tucked it in. I came back to the bench and I looked up and saw my parents, and my dad got a little emotional.

“… It means a lot to me to know how much it means to them, making it this far. I feel the love from all the way back home."

Weekend series

At Seawolf Sports Complex

UAA (2-4-2 overall, 2-1-1 WCHA) vs Bowling Green (5-4-0, 2-2-0)

7 p.m. — Friday

5 p.m. — Saturday

Radio coverage: AM-590, FM-96.7