Playing with mini-sticks in the basement is a common activity for many hockey-loving families.

For the Wack brothers, who grew up in St. Albert, Alta., it was a little different.

鈥淚鈥檇 wear the goalie mask and a can,鈥� Justin Wack, 18, recalled in an interview with The Canadian Press. 鈥淗e鈥檇 get a full-sized stick and I鈥檇 get a mini-stick. Then he鈥檇 have the bigger net and I鈥檇 have the smaller one.

鈥淗e would just wing slappers at me.鈥�

Justin, who鈥檚 blind, said it actually worked quite well.

鈥淚 play hockey myself now and I鈥檓 a goalie.鈥�

Justin鈥檚 big brother, Stephen, died in a crash between a semi-truck and the Humboldt Broncos team bus at a rural Saskatchewan intersection on April 6.

The Broncos were on their way to a playoff game and 16 people, including 10 players, would die in or after the collision.

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Stephen Wack, who was 21, played junior hockey in Alberta with the Camrose Kodiaks and the Whitecourt Wolverines before moving to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The six-foot-five defenceman spent the last two seasons playing with the Broncos.

鈥淗e was a very defensive, shut-down guy,鈥� said his brother. 鈥淪ometimes they鈥檇 have him play forward on a power play. He would stand in front of the goalie and he would drive guys nuts. He鈥檚 a big guy.鈥�

Justin said he and his parents, Tricia and Alan Wack, drove to Saskatchewan to see Stephen play a couple of nights before he died.

When they heard the bus was in a crash, they immediately got back in the car to make the 700-kilometre drive from St. Albert again.

They only knew it was bad.

鈥淚 want to give a lot of credit to first responders,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was such a mess. They really, really did what they could.

鈥淪ixteen people didn鈥檛 make it, but there鈥檚 still 13 kids who did.鈥�

The Wack family didn鈥檛 know what had happened to Stephen, but they were worried because he wasn鈥檛 answering their texts and calls.

At 2:30 a.m., as they were still driving, they got the call from the RCMP.

He had died in the crash.

Justin said his brother had 鈥渟o many qualities.鈥�

鈥淗e was really humble, really honest,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e had a work ethic like no other. He just worked really, really hard. He never quit.鈥�

He made videos. He loved surfing and hanging out at the lake.

And he was close to his family.

鈥淚 went to a lot of his games as a kid,鈥� said Justin, who recalled one team when Stephen was nine or 10. 鈥淭hey got me to come into the dressing room, sit in a circle, gave me a team jacket and said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e going to be our junior coach.鈥欌��

Justin would hang out with the boys and talk with them before games.

鈥淗e kept me involved in his games. It was nice to go support him and also be a part of the team.鈥�

Stephen also pushed his little brother to be his best.

鈥淪ometimes, being blind, people don鈥檛 realize what you鈥檙e capable of doing 鈥� Stephen always let me do my own thing.

鈥淚f he knew I was capable of doing it myself, he wouldn鈥檛 intervene.鈥�

He appreciated it 鈥� even if it meant his brother was shooting pucks at him in the basement.

鈥淲e pushed each other. That was a big part of our relationship.鈥�

A service for Wack and teammates Logan Hunter, Jaxon Joseph and Parker Tobin is to be held Tuesday at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

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鈥� By Colette Derworiz in Edmonton.

The Canadian Press

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