Report: Humbolt Broncos hit with another tragic loss over the weekend.

The City of Humboldt Saskatchewan and the wider Humboldt Broncos community seemingly can not catch a break.

The Broncos announced over the weekend that Saskatchewan hockey legend Elgar Petersen had passed away, he was 82 years old. Petersen held a special significance for the Broncos as he is the namesake of the arena in which they play their home games, when the announcement was bad in that very same arena on Saturday night a hushed silence reportedly fell over the crowd in attendance.

"It was a surprise to everybody. You could hear the gasps in the crowd," said Humboldt mayor Rob Muench as per TSN.

The story of Petersen's name being associated with the building is a rather special one, and speaks to the quality of the community that is home to the Humboldt Broncos. Far from being some very wealthy philanthropist, Elgar Petersen was a man afflicted by an intellectual disability that volunteered to do tasks around the arena like carry water for the players and tie the skates of young kids who needed help doing so. For his efforts in helping the community the Humboldt Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 1998 and the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame followed suit several years later enshrining them in their halls in 2015.

The arena was named after Petersen in 2000 and not only was it an incredible honor for Petersen but once again it was a reflection of the quality people in Humboldt, although there's little doubt that he earned it.The Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame's website summarizes what his contributions over the years, reportedly more than 4 decades of volunteer work, meant not only to the community but the impact that it had across Canada as well.

"The members of the hockey community in Humboldt say his greatest legacy is three generations of minor hockey participants and hundreds of junior hockey players from throughout Canada and beyond that would call him their friend," says the website in their biography of Petersen.

Sadly Petersen's last appearance at the arena was 2 days following the now infamous bus crash that claimed so many lives far too soon when he participated in the vigil for the victims of the tragedy. That being said his impact in the world will love on through all the players that he touched during his life, and I have no doubt that this thought will give him great comfort, wherever he is.