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“Patter’s just a good kid and a talented player,” Pejkovic said.

“He wasn’t the type to stay out past curfew or start trouble in the dressing room — he’s the kind of guy who’d put his head down and go to work when you need him to.”

That no-nonsense, down-to-business mindset is how La Ronge veteran Jared Blaquiere remembers Patter, saying the then-rookie made an immediate impression on both him and the team.

“He was good enough to be a first-line centre, as an 18-year-old,” he told Postmedia.

“He was a guy who’d stay in the dressing room after everyone left and made sure everything was done right before he left. He was a couple years younger than me, but he acted like a leader and always played his hardest.”

Recalling the 800-kilometre Edmonton-to-La Ronge journey the two made countless times, Pejkovic is sharing in the sorrowful relief felt by Patter’s friends, family and teammates — knowing the outcome could have easily been so much worse.

“He’s just a kid who — like all of us — just loves the game, and to see this happen to him is devastating,” he said.

“I’m just relieved he’s going to be OK.”

Patter spent a season with the La Ronge Ice Wolves before being traded to the Broncos last year.

Lynette Merriman, who serves on the Ice Wolves board of directors, said Patter is still in touch with his billet family in La Ronge, who he became quite close with.

“He’s a little bit more shy than some, quite a quiet guy, but once you got to know him he was very more than willing to visit with you and always respectful and he was a player that gave it all out on the ice,” she said.

— Calgary Herald and Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Nick Shumlanski released from hospital

Centre Nick Shumlanski’s father, Myles, confirmed that he was released from hospital in good condition after receiving treatment for broken bones, including injuries to his shoulder and a small crack in a vertabra.

He first went to the Tisdale hospital and then to Saskatoon for further treatment.

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Myles said a doctor called his son a “miracle,” as he was one of the only Broncos players able to get up and walk immediately after the collision Friday.

Nick was able to get to a phone and call his father, who rushed to the scene, along with his wife, to help care for others.

— Arthur White-Crummey, Regina Leader-Post

Ryan Straschnitzki in hospital

Ryan Straschnitzki, an 18-year-old defenceman from Airdrie, Alta., is in hospital with a broken back after the crash.

“I am grateful Ryan is alive and so heartbroken for the families of the lost,” Ryan’s mother Michelle said. “We don’t know much yet, but Ryan is going into surgery at some point.”

Michelle said the family “will be we are flying blind” into Saskatoon on Saturday “with broken hearts” to see Ryan in hospital before his surgery.

Stephanie Howells says her cousin Ryan has loved hockey his entire life.

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“He is a great big brother to his siblings and has always worked hard to get to where he is. I hope he recovers well and hope he is able to eventually play hockey again, just happy he is still here.”

Ryan and Parker Tobin, a Broncos goalie who was also injured in the crash, played together on the AAA Alberta Midget Leduc Oil Kings in the 2015-2016 season.

In the 2016-2017 season, Ryan played a few games for the Grande Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

Last year, he helped the Oil Kings win the Midget AAA Hockey League championship. He started off the 2017-2018 season with the Whitecourt Wolverines, but after three games was traded to Humboldt.

— Calgary Herald

Tyler Smith recovering in hospital

A family member of Tyler Smith, a forward from Leduc, Alta., says Smith is doing well and “the prognosis is good.”

Curtis Smith said in a Facebook post that his family is one of the lucky ones.

“My heart is not breaking, it is broken!” Curtis Smith wrote. “My tears are not only for Tyler but for the other parents and wives, husbands and children. My family will be forever changed.”

Smith had previously played as a forward for the Drayton Valley Thunder in the 2016-17 season before being acquired by the Humboldt Broncos.

-Edmonton Journal

Jacob Wasserman among the survivors

Goaltender Jacob Wasserman is currently in Saskatoon, according to his great-aunt Phyllis Wasserman, who was reached in Humboldt on Saturday. Not sure if he was in surgery already or not, she said he was supposed to have surgery on his back and might be paralyzed.

“For us it’s like a dark cloud is hanging and I just can’t imagine what the immediate family is going through,” she said. “It’s hard enough for us.”

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Happy to hear he was alive after realizing the severity of the crash, she said it’s still a battle for him.

“We’re just keeping our fingers crossed and praying,” she said.

“I keep saying to my husband, ‘I could see him standing in net still and putting his helmet on, shaking his head, and then this.’ It’s a shock, the whole thing.”

— Jennifer Ackerman, Regina Leader-Post