It’s been almost six years to the day since 16 people were killed in the tragic bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team, and one of the players who was paralyzed in the collision is headed to the Paralympics in Paris after mastering a new sport.
On April 6, 2018, a bus carrying 29 members of the Humboldt Broncos, a junior hockey team based in Saskatchewan, was struck by a tractor-trailer that blew through a stop sign on the highway, a horrific crash that led to the death of the bus driver, 10 players, and five people who worked for the team in various capacities.
The hockey world quickly rallied around the Broncos, and it took less than two weeks for a crowdfunding campaign that was set up for all of the victims to generate more than $15 million in donations.
Four of the 13 survivors suffered spinal cord injuries that left them paralyzed, including Ryan Straschnitzki, who has made a ton of progress since the crash and is still pursuing the sport he loves as a sled hockey player.
There was also Jacob Wasserman, a goaltender who decided to leave hockey behind in the wake of the crash but who serendipitously found a new passion in the form of rowing after running into a friend who encouraged him to pick up a set of oars after a chance encounter at a grocery store a couple of years ago.
According to Daily Faceoff, the 24-year-old Humboldt native has racked up a number of wins at rowing competitions since embracing his new pursuit and took home the silver medal at the Continental Qualification Regatta in Brazi a couple of weeks ago.
That finish helped Wasserman punch his ticket to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, as he recently learned he earned the right to participate in the PR1 men’s single category (one “reserved for rowers without trunk or leg function using two oars”), which is currently slated to take place between August 30th and September 1st.
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