The Humboldt Broncos will board a bus and play exhibition games Saturday and Sunday in Peace River against Alberta Junior League opposition from Whitecourt and Grande Prairie.

It’ll be the first bus travel for the team since the April 6 tragedy on the way to Nipawin for a playoff game in which 16 members of the Broncos were killed in a crash with a transport truck. The Humboldt organization is trying to move forward with a sense of normalcy.

“We’re just going to go out there and do our jobs,” said G-M and head coach Nathan Oystrick when asked about how the group maintains its focus in the wake of the tragedy. “We’ll talk to them and let them know that they’re here to play hockey and trying to make a hockey team and try to put the distractions behind them.

Oystrick is a former N-H-L defenceman who is taking over the direction of Humboldt’s on-ice fortunes after Darcy Haugen was one of the 16 people who perished in the crash. The Broncos will host Nipawin on September 12 to open the 2018-19 S-J-H-L regular-season.