By Ryan Pilon

Hockey team pulls together after fatal accident

Feb 6, 2011 | 7:40 AM

When the West Hill Pewee Two Sharks hockey team were heading to Swift Current for a tournament on Jan. 28, their bus t-boned a van on highway 11.

The driver of the van died.

Roger Parenteau is the team’s coach, and was sitting right behind the bus driver when it happened.

“I reminded him there was a van up there on the shoulder, and he said, ‘Yeah, I see it.’ As we approached closer, the van did a U-turn right in front of our path… everything happened so quickly.

“From one moment, seeing this van on the shoulder of the highway, to all of a sudden, it’s there and happening, and it happened so quickly,” he said.

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Parenteau said everyone on the bus was upset over the tragic accident.

“Everyone was asking, ‘What happened? What’s going on?’ Then trying to get a view up front of what happened, and the van was wrapped around the front corner of our bus,” said Parenteau.

There was some talk of just canceling the trip, but the team decided to continue on their way to Swift Current. Parenteau figured playing hockey would help the kids get their minds off the tragic incident.

“I think with kids, [it’s important] to keep their minds busy with doing other things, and carrying on with things they enjoy doing,” said Parenteau.

“I addressed the kids before the first game, and they were asking a lot of questions. We talked about it as a team, that not all the things in life that happen result in good ways, but we have to carry on.”

The Sharks ended up pulling together, and went undefeated in the tournament, beating Moose Jaw in the finals.

“Although the weekend didn’t start out that great, it ended in a good way. It was a good way to cap off a weekend that had a whole spectrum of events happen to those kids,” said Parenteau.

rpilon@panow.com