CALGARY, Alberta — Aaron Dell will have a special guest at the Sharks game in Calgary Monday night.

Ryan Straschnitzki, 19, a survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in April that killed 16 people, was paralyzed from the chest down in the accident. The Sharks backup goalie is playing a role in the crash victim’s recovery alongside his father, Phil Dell.

“It could have happened to any of us,” Aaron Dell said. “I couldn’t tell you how many 18-hour bus rides I’ve been on in the middle of winter for hockey. I had a couple accidents during my years on the bus. It could have been me.”

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As an NHL dad, Phil Dell knew he needed to jump in and help when he learned that Straschnitzki came from his and Aaron’s hometown of Airdrie, Alberta, a suburb north of Calgary.

The news of Straschnitzki’s paralysis left Phil Dell “speechless,” inspiring him to step forward and offer the services of his drywall company to help retrofit the family’s home.

“It’s like when (Marcus) Sorensen jumped in and stuck up for Joe Thornton when he got nailed in Ottawa,” Phil Dell said. “That’s just how the hockey world works. It brings tears to your eyes how everyone looks out for each other. It hit home really hard, so I thought, there’s got to be something that we can do and I started putting feelers out there.”

Working in the home improvement business for more than 24 years, Phil Dell immediately thought of the challenges Straschnitzki would face at home living in a wheelchair. How is he going to function with the counters? The doorways? The shower?

He sent out a message on Facebook, calling on members of the Airdrie community to help the Straschnitzki family renovate their house.

“Myself and partners will volunteer our time and expertise in making that happen,” Phil Dell wrote.

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The Calgary Herald picked up the story a week later and Phil Dell’s phone rang off the hook.

“I got about 400 calls in one day,” Phil Dell said. “One person said, ‘I can’t swing a hammer, but I can make sandwiches for everyone.'”

Eventually, Ryan’s father, Tom Straschnitzki, reached out to Phil Dell, taking him up on the offer for help. The family was planning to gut their basement completely and renovate it with lowered countertops, electrical outlets and a wet room for bathing.

Phil Dell put him in touch with a friend who offered free cement for the renovations. He made arrangements with the city for free dumping and next month, he and his partners, John Midtal and Chad Craig, are going to install new dry wall and insulation after they finish up with their daytime projects.

Ryan Straschnitzki’s family of six is currently living out of the Wingate hotel in Airdrie. If everything goes according to schedule, they should be back in the house by late February.

“It should save them about $50,000,” Phil Dell said in reference to his drywall work. “We’ll work during the day and then go over there and work until 9, 10 p.m. and get it done over a couple of days.”

As Phil Dell rallied support in Airdrie, Aaron Dell wanted to get involved back in San Jose.

“Aaron jumped on it right away. I was so proud,” Phil Dell said. “He heard about it and said, geez, what can I do?”

The answer: put his NHL connections to use. Aaron Dell helped raise money for the Straschnitzki family by auctioning off signed jerseys and pucks from himself, Thornton, Brent Burns and the entire Sharks team.

In August, Aaron Dell got to help in a more tangible way after he met Ryan Straschnitzki through a mutual trainer at White Collar Boxing Company in Airdrie. Aaron Dell and Straschnitzki established an instant connection. They hung out a few more times over the summer, attending the Calgary Stampede, an annual festival that celebrates Western Canadian culture.

“He’s a really good kid, really fun to be around,” Aaron Dell said. “He’s one of the most upbeat, positive people I know. He’s really good at seeing the silver lining in what happened. He knows that he still has his life and he’s still able to do some things while some of his teammates weren’t as lucky.”

Straschnitzki insists that the relationship is mutually beneficial. With his hockey career cut short by the accident, Straschnitzki is now setting his sights on playing for Team Canada’s sled hockey team (hockey’s version of wheelchair basketball) at a future Winter Olympics. He cites as inspiration Aaron Dell’s unlikely journey to the NHL as an undrafted goalie who worked his way up through the Central Hockey League, the ECHL and the American Hockey League.

“He’s someone that I really look up to,” Straschnitzki said.

The 19-year-old said that the support he’s receiving from people, such as the Dell family, reminds him to stay positive in his dark hours.

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Aaron Dell also looks to Straschnitzki for inspiration. It’s easy to shake off a bad game when he reflects on how hard his friend is working to rebuild his life after surviving a tragedy that took 16 of his teammates.

“It’s a good story for everyone to hear and realize that it’s never over until it’s over,” Aaron Dell said. “There’s always a positive side. You can’t just fall apart. There’s always something else you can reach for if you have the right attitude.”