Paralyzed Humboldt Bronco defies the odds yet again.
After being paralyzed in a crash that shook the hockey community to its core, Jacob Wassermann continues to inspire.
The mere mention of the team is enough to invoke powerful emotions in the hearts and minds of most hockey fans. The Humboldt Broncos have forever been etched into the minds of countless hockey fans in the world following the horrific 2018 crash that claimed the lives of sixteen people and left 13 more badly injured.
It is a tragic tale of loss that many families will never truly recover from but, thanks to the heroics of those involved in that fateful day, today it can also be a tale of inspiration. Although the accident itself was a terrible tragedy, the survivors of that terrible tragedy today serve as an inspiration to many and perhaps none more so than 24 year old Jacob Wassermann.
Wassermann defied the odds and survived the terrible accident but was unfortunately left paralyzed from the navel down, an extremely tough situation for a young athlete to find himself in. No one would have blamed Wassermann for feeling sorry for himself or for giving up on his athletic dreams given his disability, but Wasserman has done nothing of the sort. A chance encounter at the grocery store with a buddy led Wassermann down a path where he would take up the sport of rowing as his new passion, a new passion that he is truly excelling at.
"I thought, 'That sounds like fun,' and I was looking for a new sport. I had the build for it. I’m really tall and I like training and I sort of gave it a try and loved the community here in Saskatoon," admitted Wasserman as per 650 CKOM.
While it may have taken Wassermann some time to get adjusted to the new sport, there's no debating the level of success he has achieved in very short order. At the 2023 National Para Rowing Championship in Victoria, Wassermann would claim first place and walk away with a gold medal. He followed that up with a silver medal in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, an event that earned him a qualification for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, France.
I have no doubt that members of the hockey community will rally around Wassermann as he continues to tackle this new sport head on, I know I will be cheering for him.
