Straschnitzki throws out 1st pitch at Blue Jays game

Former Humboldt Broncos player, survivor of 2018 tragedy, attends MLB game, throws strike

Straschnitzki first pitch split

© Toronto Blue Jays

By Christopher Detwiler
@Chris_Detwiler NHL.com Staff Writer

Ryan Straschnitzki has always excelled at athletics, and things were no different on Tuesday.

Straschnitzki, a former member of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team and a survivor of the tragic 2018 bus crash, threw out the first pitch at Rogers Centre before the Toronto Blue Jays MLB game. And he made it a good one.

He threw to Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement and put it right down the middle.

The 26-year-old was paralyzed from the chest down in the 2018 bus accident that killed 16 people and injured another 13.

He has continued his athletic competition since the accident and is now looking towards the 2028 Paralympics, where he hopes to play wheelchair basketball for Team Canada.

The Alberta native is in Toronto promoting a new TV series, “We Were Broncos,” that tells Straschnitzki’s story after the crash.

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