While the Prince George Spruce Kings were boarding the bus in Penticton, hockey fans in the Okanagan city were jumping on the Kings' bandwagon.
It just so happened that as the Kings finished their practice Thursday afternoon to prepare for their trip to Wenatchee, Wash., people in their jerseys were gathering for a photo on the ice at South Okanagan Events Centre to pay tribute to the Humboldt Broncos in the wake of last week's bus tragedy which killed 16 people.
The Penticton fans offered their encouragement for the Spruce Kings to beat the Wenatchee Wild in the B.C. Hockey League final and keep the Fred Page Cup trophy in B.C. "There were a lot of people milling around the bus and they were getting an opportunity to wish the Prince George Spruce Kings well," said Ron Gallo, the Spruce Kings play-by-play announcer for the playoff road games.
"A lot of the commonality of the conversations was that this is a B.C.-based team and you've got to bring it back to B.C. They said, 'We'll support you right now but come September it will be a new game.'
"It was actually very fun and very touching and certainly the send-off the players received in Prince George was still lingering with them and when they met so many fans down there (in Penticton) it just morphed into an opportunity to wish them well."
Before they got on the bus, head coach Adam Maglio presented each player with "Bronco Strong" T-shirts and they posed for a group shot before they headed out for the five-hour trip to Wenatchee.
The Kings and Wild play again at Town Toyota Center in Game 2 tonight, then will meet in the next two games in Prince George at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
