Notes: Wings join hockey world in mourning Humboldt tragedy

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings join the entire hockey world in mourning the tragedy involving the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
The Broncos were on their bus on the way to play the Nipawin Hawks in Game 5 of their playoff series when the bus collided with a semi-trailer on Highway 35 late Friday afternoon.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that 14 people had died in the crash and another 14 had been taken to the hospital, three of whom were in critical condition.

Before speaking about the Wings or the game against the Islanders, Wings coach Jeff Blashill talked about the Humboldt Broncos: "I want to send my thoughts and my prayers to the Humboldt hockey team, to the community, the entire province of Saskatchewan. I spent lots of time up there recruiting in my time and I know how much that junior league is a fabric of that province. I'm a father and I can't imagine what they're going through. So certainly give them my thoughts and prayers."
Almost every hockey player and coach has had the experience of traveling on buses to and from games, often in poor weather conditions.
"In Guelph, everyone in the OHL takes a bus," Tyler Bertuzzi said. "I remember we were going to Owen Sound and it was a snow storm. Our bus kind of did a fish tail and we were lucky enough to stay on the highway. It's scary. It's things that you know happen and it's tough to hear that. I'm just praying for the families."
It was the same for hockey players in Sweden.
"Bus was the way to go in pretty much every league in the world, in the highest league in Sweden you go by bus usually," Gustav Nyquist said. "That's part of being a team, a lot of bonding experiences happen on the (bus). You spend a lot of time together, it's kind of your safe zone. It's just terrible news what happened."
Anthony Mantha's parents are in town and he was with them when he heard the horrible news.
"We were watching TV and we saw it pop up. It's hard to hear, obviously," Mantha said. "I looked at Twitter this morning and they're saying there's 14 dead and 14 or so in the hospital. I hope they get out of there with decent health. It's so hard to hear. It couldn't happen to anyone. It could happen to planes these days. No one is really safe."

Like most players, Mantha said he's spent countless hours on buses with his various teams.
"When you're on the bus you're with your teammates," Mantha said. "You played games, you played cards. You don't really pay attention to the road. Some guys are sleeping and if you wake up, the bus could be on fire, it could tilt over. You don't know where you're at. Just thinking about it makes me sick a little bit. Obviously we'll try to support them. I saw on Twitter this morning they're starting a Go Fund Me, so I'll probably donate something for the families."

The GoFundMe campaign had already raised more than $530,000 by early Saturday afternoon.
COREAU IN NET, RETURN OF GLENDENING: Blashill said that Jared Coreau would start the final game of the season against the New York Islanders.
"He's a pending unrestricted free agent. We want to get as many looks at him as we possibly can. At this point we made the decision, let's have a look at him."
Coreau is 0-5-0 with a 4.35 goals-against average and .859 save percentage in six games this season.
The Wings placed Coreau on waivers Saturday. If he clears by noon Sunday, the Wings can assign him to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.
Luke Glendening, who left Tuesday's game in the second period with an upper-body injury, skated Friday and Saturday and is ready to go.
"There was more evaluation that took place and Luke is able to play tonight so Luke will play tonight, Luke Glendening," Blashill said.
Blashill originally believed Glendening would miss the final two games of the season.
Blashill said Luke Witkowski would sit out.
BERTUZZI SITUATION UNDECIDED: The Wings still have not made a final decision on whether Bertuzzi will return to Grand Rapids for the playoffs.
"No, haven't heard anything yet. I'll probably find out tonight," Bertuzzi said. "You want to go try and win again but you want to stay healthy and have a good summer. There's pros and cons both ways."
Bertuzzi was the MVP of the Calder Cup playoffs last season when the Griffins won the Calder Cup.
"It would be awesome to win back to back," Bertuzzi said. "It's been a long year. I had an injury the last two summers, so I think that's a big factor, too, that I haven't been healthy for the summers for training."
Blashill has said that Bertuzzi will need to get a little bigger and stronger for next season with the Wings.