The 15 victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash will be top-of-mind Tuesday, as students head back to class, in the community’s first day of school since the disastrous collision that triggered an outpouring of sympathy from around the world.

Grief counsellors are expected to be on hand to provide support to those mourning their classmates. A fund to provide mental health support has also been set up for hockey teams in the area.

Two of the 14 victims injured in the Friday crash have been released from hospital. Twelve remain in hospital, four of them in critical condition.

Nick Shumlanski, who was among the two discharged from hospital, spoke to CTV News about the horrific crash on Monday.

“All of a sudden we just slammed on the brakes and that’s pretty much the last thing I remember, is just seeing a couple of guys standing up to see what was going on,” he told CTV Chief Anchor Lisa LaFlamme in an exclusive interview.

Shumlanski’s father, Myles, lived within sight of the crash and was one of the first ones on the scene.

“It was chaos,” he said. “You just got to control your emotions at that time because when you see your boy covered with blood, you see some of his best buddies, some of the guys he’s played hockey five, six, seven, eight years ago… They did not deserve this.”

Nick Shumlanski suffered an injured shoulder and a chipped vertebra from the crash. He was among the three hospitalized players pictured holding hands in a photo that went viral on Saturday.

Broncos player Xavier Labelle is among those who still remains in hospital, alive despite an initial report from the Coroner’s Office that declared him dead.

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Justice announced Monday that Broncos goalie Parker Tobin had actually died in the crash – not Labelle, as it was initially believed.

“All I can do is offer our sincerest apologies, our sincerest condolences and sympathies, in particular to the Tobin family on the news that they would have received,” Drew Wilby, a spokesperson for the ministry, said on Monday in Regina.

The Tobin and Labelle families issued a joint statement on Monday to say that they are “grieving together.” They also said they “hope the focus will remain on those grieving and those recovering, not the confusion in an unimaginable tragedy.”

Donations continue to pour in by the minute on a GoFundMe page dedicated to supporting the families of the crash victims. The fundraiser has passed the $6.7 million mark, shattering its most recent goal of $4 million.

“There are no words that could express the incredible support the hockey community has seen here,” organizer Sylvie Kellington wrote in an update yesterday. “Almost 60,000 people from 60 countries around the world have heard our story and were moved to help.”

Social media users continue to express their grief and show their solidarity by sharing photos of hockey sticks left out by the front doors, using the hashtags #SticksOutForHumboldt, #PutYourStickOut or #PutYourSticksOut.

Many broadcasters have also adapted the show of support to specifically acknowledge Tyler Bieber, the team’s radio play-by-play announcer who died in the crash. Broadcasters are laying out their play-by-play headsets with their hockey sticks for the tributes.

Many current and former NHLers have also shown their support.

“Part of the journey as a hockey player is the ride to the rink and the ride home,” New York Islanders captain John Tavares wrote, in a tweet accompanied by a photo of a stick outside his door. “Some of the best memories I have is riding the bus in Junior with my teammates.”

Singer and hockey dad Rod Stewart also showed his support by dedicating a song to the team at a show in Calgary.
Saskatchewan politicians seek a redesign of the intersection where the crash occurred, which was also previously the scene of a six-death crash in 1997.