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Countering that isolation, however, is the powerful sense of community the world saw in Humboldt following the crash. We all learned that the Broncos are one of the ties that bind the town. The arena’s capacity of 1,854 people means that there’s a seat for every 2.6 of the town’s residents. But Humboldt isn’t just hockey. Its churches and community halls are just as vibrant and were, even at a time of immense tragedy, as warm and welcoming to those in grief, and to strangers like me.

Many players among the 16 killed in the bus crash came from throughout Canada, mostly the West. In the towns the Broncos’ bus passed through, there were few doors without a hockey stick beside them as a memorial. Every restaurant and shop I visited solicited donations. At the crash site, drivers stopped to say silent prayers, leave something on the impromptu memorial or simply try to understand what went wrong.

We still don’t know exactly what happened, although the upcoming trial of a truck driver may shed some light. Eight months later, one Bronco remains in hospital. But in September, the team again moved to billets in Humboldt, and took to the ice for the first time since the tragic events of the spring.

—Ian Austen

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There are several moments that stand out for me in 2018: Olympian Ross Rebagliati rolling his fourth joint a few hours into my smoke-filled interview with him.



Filmmaker Xavier Dolan talking to me for nearly eight hours straight about his life and childhood and inviting me to his house to watch a cut of his new film.