e guard Malik Monk, w

A semi-trailer slammed into a bus carrying a youth hockey team in western Canada Youth Dallas Cowboys Jerseys , killing 15 people and injuring 14 in a catastrophic collision that a doctor compared to an airstrike and left the vehicles obliterated in the snow. The crash sent shockwaves through the team’s small hometown and a country united by the national sport.

Canadians were moved to tears on Saturday as they learned of the identities of the deceased on the bus that was driving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team to a crucial playoff game Friday against the Nipawin Hawks.

”An entire country is in shock and mourning,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. ”This is every parent’s worst nightmare. No one should ever have to see their child leave to play the sport they love and never come back.”

The bus had 29 passengers, including the driver, when it crashed at about 5 p.m. on Highway 35, police said. Among the dead are Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, team captain Logan Schatz and radio announcer Tyler Bieber. Authorities earlier said three were in critical condition but later provided an update to say that 15 have now died.

Canadian police said the truck driver was initially detained but has since been released and provided with mental health assistance. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said it’s too early to state a cause for the crash.

In a tweet, U.S. President Donald Trump said he called Trudeau to offer his condolences to the families of victims.

Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks, said a semi T-boned the players’ bus – an account police confirmed.

”It’s a horrible accident, my God,” Opp said.

Hassan Masri, an emergency room doctor at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital who has done work in war-torn Syria, said the crash reminded him of an airstrike.

Photographs of the wreckage showed the twisted trailer with most of its wheels in the air and the bus on its side and its back portion destroyed. The force of the crash sent both vehicles into the ditch at the northwest corner of the intersection.

Aerial footage showed the bus on its side, its roof peeled back and its front end destroyed. The trailer of the truck lay nearby in a shattered mess, with bags of its peat moss cargo scattered all around. The tractor part of the truck was intact Adidas Eric Staal Jersey , lying on its passenger side.

The tractor-trailer would have had to yield to a stop sign before crossing over the highway that the hockey bus was travelling on. There is a stand of trees on the southeast corner of the intersection, limiting visibility of the approach on both roads.

Police said a lot of issues have to be investigated, including weather conditions at the time and any mechanical issues with the vehicles.

The tragedy brought to mind an accident in 1986, when the Swift Current Broncos team bus slid off an icy highway and crashed in late December, killing four players.

The Humboldt Broncos are a close-knit team from the small city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which has a population of about 6,000. Many gathered at the community center at the hockey arena there after word of the horrific crash began to circulate.

Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench, wearing a green and yellow Broncos team jersey, hugged people Saturday morning as they came to the Elger Petersen Arena in the Saskatchewan town to comfort each other and learn more.

”It’s overwhelming. It’s been tough on everybody,” Muench said in a phone interview. ”We’re a small community; some of those kids have been on the team for a number of years. A lot grew up in the community and everybody knows each other.”

The team was on its way to play in Game 5 of a semi-final against the Nipawin Hawks.

”Hockey was what brought us all together and we had two communities that were rivals in the rink. To find out that it was their first responders that aided our boys just warms your heart,” the mayor said as his voice cracked.

Multiple crisis workers were assisting relatives and friends.

”Everybody is just so devastated. These poor young boys,” said Penny Lee, the communications manager for the town of Humboldt.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a junior `A’ hockey league under Hockey Canada, which is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It’s open to North American-born players between the ages of 16 and 20.

Team President Kevin Garinger said parents from across western Canada were struggling to cope with the tragedy and were rushing to the scene.

”We are heartbroken and completely devastated Youth Troy Apke Jersey ,” Garinger said. ”We will never forget the members of our Broncos family who were taken from us and who were injured.”

Michelle Straschnitzki, who lives in Airdrie, Alberta, said her 18-year old son Ryan was transported to a hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

”We talked to him, but he said he couldn’t feel his lower extremities so I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. ”I am freaking out. I am so sad for all of the teammates and I am losing my mind.”

Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, said he knows players on the team.

”This is I would think one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained in how we grow up here,” he said.

The hockey world issued messages of condolences, including Saskatchewan native Mike Babcock, who is the Toronto Maple Leafs coach.

Babcock, fighting back tears Carolina Panthers Jerseys Womens , said that ”it’s got to rip the heart out of your chest.”

The Chicago Blackhawks and Winnip

INDIANAPOLIS — With the Indiana Pacers unable to move up from the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, the team will likely have a new look for the regular-season finale on Tuesday night against Charlotte.

For the Pacers to have reached the No. 4 spot, the Cleveland Cavaliers had to lose back-to-back games to the New York Knicks. But after Cavs beat the Knicks on Monday night, Pacers coach Nate McMillan is expected to rest his starters and key reserves quite a bit against the Hornets.

Rest might be welcome thing.

“Yeah, I thought that they fought through some fatigue,” McMillan said of his players in Sunday’s 123-117 win at Charlotte. “Even though we won, I thought that we were flat for most of this game. We found a way to get some energy. I thought the bench came in and gave us a lot of energy and played well to help us get this win.”

Pacers center/forward Domantas Sabonis scored a career-high 30 points.

“My teammates were trusting me like always and I do my best to finish,” Sabonis told Fox Sports Indiana. “I love it here. It’s been a very fun year. I love my teammates, coaching staff and I’m just happy to represent Indiana.”

Sabonis averages 11.7 points and 7.7 rebounds.

“He’s always crashing the boards, plays well in the pick-and-roll, a very, very smart IQ guy,” Pacers point guard Cory Joseph said.

After scoring below double figures for the first time all season Friday night with five points in a loss at Toronto, Pacers leading scorer Victor Oladipo bounced back with 27 points.

The Hornets were plagued by 22 turnovers, and Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said in four of the last five games turnovers have been the difference.

“I think we’re first or second in the NBA in taking care of the basketball Authentic Walter Payton Jersey , but four of the last five games we’ve had 17 or 18 turnovers, which is more product of playing more guys and something that you can live with,” he said. “So we did some good things. Those guys in the fourth quarter did a good job, so we’ll go there on Tuesday and see if we can put together longer periods of good play.”

Clifford said he will start thinking about the offseason later. After the Hornets won four in a row, they have lost five of the last six games.

“It’s been important to me that we play these games well so in nine of the last 10 we’ve been pretty good, competitive and organized,” he said. “So we’ve been putting just as much into these games as we have all year and frankly you worry about the next season in the next season.

“I want to win Tuesday and I want (the players) to, too. So I haven’t even thought about stuff like that.”

Hornets rookie guard Malik Monk, who averages 6.5 points, has scored 20 or more points in the last three games.

Clifford said Monk has gotten better with his pick-and-roll game and has been more efficient offensively.

“The thing he is doing better is he’s making plays for other people,” Clifford said.

Clifford has noticed Monk’s assists-to-turnovers numbers have been solid recently as well.

“That to me is as much of an indicator as anything of the growth that he’s made in terms of learning how to play in a manner that both he can score and the rest of the guys can play well when he’s on the floor,” he said. “In this league at his size (6 feet 3), pick and roll is going to be a big part of it.”

.