A group of hockey parents in Langley, B.C. have come together to organize a national wear-your-jersey day to support victims and families affected by a fatal bus crash in Saskatchewan.

On Friday, a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos Junior A hockey team to a playoff game was T-boned by a transport truck on a rural highway. The crash claimed 15 lives and sent 14 to hospital.

Jennifer Pinch, whose 16-year-old son is trying out for teams like the Broncos, said hearing of the tragedy was "gut-wrenching."

"It just hits so close to home. It's my son, it's his friends, it's the community," she told CTV News. "We have all been there. We are all them."

On Saturday morning, she and several other moms of young hockey players put out a call on Facebook for kids and adults alike to wear sports jerseys on April 12 to show they stand with crash victims and their families.

Pinch said she wants to show the families they're not alone.

"The first thing I thought of was all those trips that we all take through the mountains, through the snow. We do take it for granted. Those safe travels and those safe trips," she told CTV News. "We have all been there. We all are them."

Pinch compared making the cut for a team like the Broncos to "winning the lottery" for young hockey players. She says the fatal crash is even more nerve-wracking for her because travelling with her son's team is something that's familiar to her.

"You don't think about it. It's just part of hockey."

She's also asking people to consider donating to a GoFundMe campaign for victims and their families. The Vancouver Canucks have already pledged $29,000.

"Knowing what families are going through…and knowing how many hours as hockey players and athletes you put on buses, it’s the absolutely most terrible thing that could ever happen," former Canuck Derek Dorsett told reporters Saturday.

Canadian and world leaders have also expressed their condolences to those impacted by the Saskatchewan crash.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that his heart goes out to everyone affected by the "terrible tragedy" in Humboldt and beyond.

U.S. President Donald Trump and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also expressed offered sympathies.

 

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith