Saskatchewan communities come together

The devastation of tragedy. The energy of group. The spirit of the Prairies.

On Jan. 20, Damion Holstein was driving together with his father and girlfriend to play a sport with the Langenburg U18 Warriors once they have been hit by a prepare in Churchbridge, Sask., a small group close to the Manitoba border.

Miraculously, Damion and his girlfriend survived with critical however non-life-threatening accidents. 

“I honestly don’t remember much during the accident, like when it happened, but before and after, it’s all there,” remembers Damion, who suffered damaged ribs and a lacerated spleen and had his hockey season come to an finish.

“[My girlfriend], she tore a ligament in one foot, and I think a tendon in the other and she also had a concussion.”

However, Damion’s father, 41-year-old David Holstein, who was behind the wheel, was pronounced useless on the scene.

“He was pretty funny. He always put a smile on people’s faces,” says Damion. “He is what got me into hockey because he loved watching [the] Los Angeles [Kings] play and that was his favourite team up until the end.”

The Warriors have been nonetheless on the ice once they discovered what occurred and determined to hold Damion’s jersey on their bench for the rest of the sport as a present of help — one thing the 17-year-old is extraordinarily grateful for.

“To see the support from my team, it was really heartwarming, and they didn’t really know until the third period. The fact they still went out of their way put my jersey up that game was phenomenal,” says Damion.

David Holstein, left, together with his sons Damion and Riley. (Photo equipped)

Almost instantly after the incident, the Langenburg Warriors started planning to do one thing extra for Damion, his youthful brother Riley and their mother Kathleen Jenson. 

“It’s an interesting thing when something happens in a small community. It’s just everybody wants to help and they don’t know, but they just start helping anyway and that’s kind of what happened,” says Wendy Maksymchuk, group supervisor of the Warriors.

To present their help, the Warriors determined they’d transfer their final common season residence sport, slated for Feb. 1, to Damion’s hometown of Churchbridge, which is about 10 minutes from Langenburg.

“We thought that would be a really nice sentiment, but just on a very small level,” says Maksymchuk.

At the identical time, the group of Churchbridge was additionally in search of methods to indicate their help and determined to make use of the Warriors’ final residence sport as a possibility to carry a fundraiser and silent public sale with the proceeds going to Damion and his household.

“I got a phone call from the principal from the school in Churchbridge who said that the Churchbridge community also wanted to do something and were wondering if they could turn the hockey game into a community benefit fundraiser for Damion and his brother Riley,” remembers Maksymchuk, including, “I used to be so

relieved as a result of it felt like we now have a course as a result of so many individuals needed to assist and now we had a plan. Things simply exploded from there.”

By this time, a coach with the Warriors had contacted TSN’s Darren Dreger and requested if he might assist in any method. Dreger, who went to highschool in Langenburg and nonetheless has household in the neighborhood, reached out to the Regina Pats and Edmonton Oilers and shared the tragedy. 

The Pats responded by sending a signed Connor Bedard jersey whereas the Oilers despatched a signed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins jersey. 

“A bit of the buzz that kind of started things rolling really quickly was Darren Dreger’s efforts,” says Maksymchuk. “That Bedard jersey, we were just coming off the World Juniors and it just created the buzz that I think that the event needed right from the start because we knew it was coming pretty much as soon as we knew the event was going to take place.”

Three different signed jerseys —Tanner Jeannot (Nashville Predators), Kevin Kaminski (SJHL’s La Ronge Ice Wolves) and George Reed (Saskatchewan Roughriders) — have been additionally donated together with 75 different objects. Organizers determined to public sale off the jerseys by Facebook forward of the sport to not solely increase cash however generate curiosity within the sport, whereas the remaining can be raffled off or used for the silent public sale.

 “Once we got to the people channelling their efforts, things kind of went together really quickly because there were so many people that wanted to help,” says Maksymchuk.

Autographed jerseys, together with Connor Bedard (Regina Pats) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton Oilers), on show at Kaminski Arena in Churchbridge, Sask., on Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo equipped)

On Feb. 1, the Warriors’ sport in opposition to the Balcarres Broncs was held at Churchbridge’s Kaminski Arena in entrance of a capability crowd.

“These teams had never played in front of a full house before and they were actually so nervous,” says Maksymchuk. “It was kind of cute, actually, and they very much enjoyed it, but you could tell right off the start their hands were shaking.”

 “It really warmed my heart to see my friends and family come together to bring together a benefit game for us. It was really nice to see that,” says Riley.

During the third interval, the net Facebook public sale for the autographed jerseys concluded, bringing in over $6,500. The Bedard jersey fetched an eye-popping $4,000 whereas Nugent-Hopkins went for $1,600.

“Everybody’s eyes were huge and jaws were on the ground,” says Maksymchuk.

 “I can’t even put words to it because I would have never expected that,” provides Jenson. “Not only to see them fill the rink and show support but basically to save me. I had no idea how I was going to function in the next while. Their dad and I had been split for 15 years but you’re still not on your own, you’re still sharing work, sharing expenses and losing all that was very difficult, not to mention the loss of their father.”

In the tip, roughly $30,000 was raised from the jersey and silent auctions, the raffle and common donations, with all of the proceeds going to a belief fund that had been established for Damion and Riley.

“You don’t expect a whole community to step up like that,” says Jenson. “It was a whole bunch of small communities coming together. It wasn’t just Churchbridge or Langenburg, it was the surrounding area that showed up and supported us.”

“To see the community come together for the benefit game and show their loving support was incredible,” provides Damion.