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NIPAWIN Jacob Markstrom Jersey , Saskatchewan (AP) A semi-trailer slammed into a bus carrying a youth hockey team in western Canada, killing 15 people and injuring 14 in a catastrophic collision that a doctor compared to an airstrike and left the vehicles obliterated in the snow. The crash sent shockwaves through the team’s small hometown and a country united by the national sport.Canadians were moved to tears on Saturday as they learned of the identities of the deceased on the bus that was driving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team to a crucial playoff game Friday against the Nipawin Hawks.”An entire country is in shock and mourning,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. ”This is every parent’s worst nightmare. No one should ever have to see their child leave to play the sport they love and never come back.”The bus had 29 passengers, including the driver, when it crashed at about 5 p.m. on Highway 35, police said. Among the dead are Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz and radio announcer Tyler Bieber. Authorities earlier said three were in critical condition but later provided an update to say that 15 have now died.Canadian police said the truck driver was initially detained but has since been released and provided with mental health assistance. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said it’s too early to state a cause for the crash.In a tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said he called Trudeau to offer his condolences to the families of victims.Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks, said a semi T-boned the players’ bus – an account police confirmed.”It’s a horrible accident, my God,” Opp said.Hassan Masri, an emergency room doctor at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital who has done work in war-torn Syria, said the crash reminded him of an airstrike.Photographs of the wreckage showed the twisted trailer with most of its wheels in the air and the bus on its side and its back portion destroyed. The force of the crash sent both vehicles into the ditch at the northwest corner of the intersection.Aerial footage showed the bus on its side, its roof peeled back and its front end destroyed. The trailer of the truck lay nearby in a shattered mess, with bags of its peat moss cargo scattered all around. The tractor part of the truck was intact, lying on its passenger side.The tractor-trailer would have had to yield to a stop sign before crossing over the highway that the hockey bus was travelling on. There is a stand of trees on the southeast corner of the intersection, limiting visibility of the approach on both roads.Police said a lot of issues have to be investigated Markus Granlund Jersey , including weather conditions at the time and any mechanical issues with the vehicles.The tragedy brought to mind an accident in 1986, when the Swift Current Broncos team bus slid off an icy highway and crashed in late December, killing four players.The Humboldt Broncos are a close-knit team from the small city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which has a population of about 6,000. Many gathered at the community center at the hockey arena there after word of the horrific crash began to circulate.Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench, wearing a green and yellow Broncos team jersey, hugged people Saturday morning as they came to the Elger Petersen Arena in the Saskatchewan town to comfort each other and learn more.”It’s overwhelming. It’s been tough on everybody,” Muench said in a phone interview. ”We’re a small community; some of those kids have been on the team for a number of years. A lot grew up in the community and everybody knows each other.”The team was on its way to play in Game 5 of a semi-final against the Nipawin Hawks.”Hockey was what brought us all together and we had two communities that were rivals in the rink. To find out that it was their first responders that aided our boys just warms your heart,” the mayor said as his voice cracked.Multiple crisis workers were assisting relatives and friends.”Everybody is just so devastated. These poor young boys,” said Penny Lee, the communications manager for the town of Humboldt.The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a junior `A’ hockey league under Hockey Canada, which is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It’s open to North American-born players between the ages of 16 and 20.Team President Kevin Garinger said parents from across western Canada were struggling to cope with the tragedy and were rushing to the scene.”We are heartbroken and completely devastated,” Garinger said. ”We will never forget the members of our Broncos family who were taken from us and who were injured.”Michelle Straschnitzki, who lives in Airdrie, Alberta, said her 18-year old son Ryan was transported to a hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.”We talked to him Michael Del Zotto Jersey , but he said he couldn’t feel his lower extremities so I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. ”I am freaking out. I am so sad for all of the teammates and I am losing my mind.”Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, said he knows players on the team.”This is I would think one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained in how we grow up here,” he said.The hockey world issued messages of condolences, including Saskatchewan native Mike Babcock, who is the Toronto Maple Leafs coach.Babcock, fighting back tears, said that ”it’s got to rip the heart out of your chest.”The Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets wore the name ”BRONCOS” instead of their nameplates on Saturday night.—Rob Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto and Ivan Moreno contributed from Milwaukee. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — After a Stanley Cup Final appearance two years ago and the NHL’s best regular-season record in 2017-18, the Nashville Predators haven’t enjoyed the same vibe.There’s still plenty of time to get it back, though, and this victory at Minnesota was an encouraging sign.Ryan Johansen scored in the fourth round of the shootout on Sunday night to give the Predators a 3-2 victory and stop the Wild’s winning streak at five games.“A step in the right direction,” Johansen said. “Some more adversity today on the road and just finding a way to win. We’re going to build off that.”Filip Forsberg had the tying goal with 4:19 remaining in regulation and backup goalie Juuse Saros won for the first time in four starts for the Predators, who owned a 17-3 shots advantage after the second intermission against a Wild team returned from a 4-2 win at Pacific Division leader Calgary on Saturday night.Eric Fehr and Jason Zucker scored late in the second period less than 3 minutes apart for the Wild, who still moved into a tie with Dallas for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Stars have played one fewer game.“We all expected to win that game no matter what the travel is Sam Gagner Jersey , especially if we played our game,” Zucker said. “I thought we played pretty well.”Six days after he was traded to the Predators for fellow wing Kevin Fiala, Mikael Granlund faced off against his former team and was honored during a first-period break with a tribute video and an extended cheer from the crowd.There could hardly have been a player on the ice with more emotion for this game than Granlund, the slick stick-handler and special-teams standout who was informed of the deal by Wild general manager Paul Fenton after his fiancée had started labor. Granlund turned 27 and became a father the following day. He debuted with his new team with one assist at Winnipeg on Friday.Granlund, who skated with Kyle Turris and Craig Smith on the second line, was acquired in part to help jump-start a power play that entered the evening with the second-worst conversion rate (12.5 percent) in the NHL. The Predators went 0 for 2.“It’s been fun to play games,” Granlund said. “Hopefully I’m going to find my rhythm and systems and everything so I don’t need to go out there and think.”With first-liners Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson, Turris and star defenseman P.K. Subban all having missed significant time earlier in the season, the Predators, who are just 5-6-1 in their last 12 games, have had to work a lot harder to stay among the Western Conference leaders than in the last two seasons. They trail Winnipeg by one point in the Central Division, but they’ve played three more games than the Jets.“We need to start pushing our collection,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “I really liked the resiliency of our group.”Wayne Simmonds posted his first point for the Predators since he was acquired in a trade hours after Granlund, setting up Nick Bonino’s first goal in 16 games since Jan. 23. The Wild picked up the pace, and Fehr scored on a breakaway with 3:25 remaining before the second intermission after blocking Rocco Grimaldi’s shot. Zucker, with 38 seconds left, deposited his third goal in the last four games .Backup goalie Alex Stalock made 41 saves, after allowing 11 goals on 69 shots over his three previous starts Womens Devante Smith-Pelly Jersey , all losses. That included an early hook against Anaheim on Jan. 17, when he gave up three goals in 7:58.In the shootout, Johansen slowed to a near-stop in front of the crease and used a rope-a-dope move to set up a backhander. Stalock unsuccessfully argued that Johansen pushed his pad into the net with the puck.“They don’t want to be thought of as the team that didn’t make it,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They’re giving it everything that they have.”NOTES: Recently retired skier Lindsey Vonn , the all-time women’s leader with 82 World Cup wins who grew up in Minnesota, performed a ceremonial puck drop . Grinning widely as she walked off the ice, Vonn playfully waved her arms at Nashville’s bench where her boyfriend, Subban, was sitting. … Zach Parise, who had the only shootout goal for the Wild, returned from a one-game absence to a lower-body injury as Matt Read, who scored against the Flames, was sent back to the AHL. … Smith returned from a six-game absence due to a lower-body injury. Bonino moved over to center to fill the spot vacated by Brian Boyle, who was out with a lower-body injury. … Eric Staal stretched his season-high points streak to six straight games. … Fiala is the fourth former Predators player acquired for the Wild by Fenton since the season began, joining right wing Pontus Aberg and defensemen Anthony Bitetto and Brad Hunt.UP NEXTPredators: After returning home to face the Wild again on Tuesday, they host Carolina on Saturday.Wild: After the rematch with the Predators in two nights, they stay on the road and play at Tampa Bay on Thursday.