“Our life was lived around hockey when we were hosts,” said Ms. Kienlen, whose three children were young when the family hosted players in their homes. “We had a player who was just 15 years old. Imagine that: just 15 years old. But he needed parents. We didn’t know how to parent teenagers then, but it worked.”

The custom of players’ living with local families means the deaths double the number of parents affected. In a new subdivision behind Humboldt’s hospital, Devin and Rene Cannon were hosts to two players killed in the crash: Logan Hunter, 18, and Adam Herold, whose 17th birthday would have been on Thursday.

“We aren’t built to not get attached,” Ms. Cannon told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “We take every single boy that’s ever come into our house right into our hearts and into our family.”

She added: “They’re children of our heart from the moment they walk in our door. We don’t just feed them and house them, we care about them.”

Now, Ms. Cannon said, “We feel like our hearts have been splintered. There are three people in our lives we will never get to hold and hug and tell them to go kick some butt on the ice ever again.”

The outsize role the team plays in Humboldt was obvious even on the outskirts of town, where a large sign on the highway at the Humboldt exit called for prayers for the team. On the main street — named Glenn Hall Drive, after the hometown hero, a goalie who went on to the National Hockey League, winning two Stanley Cups — gold, green and white Broncos jerseys hung behind counters in shops, restaurants and hotels. It seemed almost everyone in town was wearing green lapel ribbons to honor the team.