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Over the seven games of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League final, there have been sombre moments of silence and moments of ferocious noise in both Affinity Place and Nipawin’s Centennial Arena.

Both have been sign of a revitalized and renewed interest in junior hockey that’s been helpful and probably necessary for the clubs and the league.

The Canalta Cup, or the SJHL championship that has eluded both Estevan and Nipawin since the era of frosted tips and the Backstreet Boys, has captured the attention of both communities. Nipawin sold out their tickets for Game 7 in 20 minutes; the Bruins in about 30.

There can be no understating the value of the last three games on the Bruins’ bottom line, and the team will be undoubtedly holding a good profit from the playoff run as a whole. Season tickets will undoubtedly be up with renewed interest in the club and the corporate partnerships are going to continue. This might arguable be the best financial position the club has been in recent memory.

It’s been a coming together over its junior team that could have happened in any city in the league, but it happened here.

And it happened under the most tragic of possible circumstances. The loss of 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos won’t be forgotten anytime soon, and the league will have to find a way to accommodate the large hole left by the loss of players, coaches and staff that franchise suffered in order for them to play hockey in any form.

For a moment, the league and its players and fans held their collective breath, wondering if life and hockey could ever been the same again. Would the game have the same passion and intensity it did in the days leading up to the collision?

It turns out it did, and it would. Full buildings in both Nipawin and Estevan were exactly the elixir to make sure that the game on the ice and in the stands would be arguably better than it had been. It turns out we do care, and the game was right to continue.

The team with the spoked B in its logo has handled the spotlight in the best way possible. In a situation where their grief has been public and they haven’t hidden from anything, the maturity and grace of the players and coaching staff has stood out as exemplary. People dealing with difficult situations can now look to the Bruins as a good way of handling things. It can’t have been easy and our eyes haven’t seen all of what the team has had to deal with emotionally, losing friends and midget teammates instantly, but we’ve seen them come through the other side and able to play the game they love.

The spring of 2018 will not be forgotten anytime soon by anyone here, or anyone even marginally connected to hockey.  The community here coped with the tragedy as best as it could, opening up hearts and wallets to the families of those who died and survivors, as their healing will take a lot longer to happen.

None of us are done with mourning the loss. It will be a difficult summer with a lot of difficult decisions to be made with regards to the personnel any renewed Broncos franchise can make. But at least after the last couple of weeks we’re further along than we might have been had the 2018 playoffs been forever on hold.

But you could see it in the eyes of those who saw the Bruins off on their road trip up to Nipawin for Game 7. This city, its fans and supporters, the sponsors and everything involved with what happens before the team hits the ice… it’s all here in a way that is going to ensure that the heart of hockey is still beating. And may it never stop.