Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos

by Leesa Culp, Gregg Drinnan, Bob Wilkie

A true story of hockey heartbreak, tragedy, and triumph. Sudden Death brings to life the incredible ongoing saga of the Swift Current Broncos hockey team. After a tragic game-day bus accident on December 30, 1986, left four of its star players dead, the first-year Western Hockey League team was faced with nearly insurmountable odds against not only its future success but its very survival. The heartbreaking story made headlines across North America, and the club garnered acclaim when it triumphantly rebounded and won the Canadian Hockey League’s prestigious Memorial Cup in 1989.Many of the surviving Broncos continued their successful hockey careers in the NHL, among them 2012 Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Sakic, Sheldon Kennedy, and Sudden Death co-author Bob Wilkie. Years later the Broncos’ tragedy-to-triumph tale was overshadowed when the team’s former coach, Graham James, was convicted of sexual assault against Sheldon Kennedy, Theoren Fleury, and Todd Holt, all of whom played for him.

Genres: Hockey, Sports, History

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2012

Reviews

[Brody Rieger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sudden Death The Incredible SAGA of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos by Leesa Culp Gregg Drinnan and Bob Wilkie The genre is a non fiction sports book.The setting takes place around swift current area.The story starts off talking about three guys Bob wilkie sheldon Kennedy and peter soberlak talking about how they met and that they were going to Wilkie's parents house.Then they started talk like old times and catching up.Then they talked about the memories of losing 4 people do to the accident.Witch ended up them learning about the very important information about their coach.


2 A significant event leading to the main event is when all the when Lesa jumped in a semi truck and were going through a scary moment.When they realised how dangerous the conditions of the road were.They were struggling to drive in this crazy weather The broncos were getting ready to get on the bus. They started driving on the road to get out of Swift current saw as semi coming so they had to wait.At the intersection but the semi slowed down to let them go it was.Actually Lesa and her husband Lesa and her husband watched the bus go onto the road and not long after, Lesa and her husband witnessed a devastating thing that would be on the news in the morning.


3 What is truthful about this story when it is all true since it is a true event that happened.This story is very intriguing.Because it is not just about the crash it is about the players lives before the crash even happened.The story also tells how on event can really mess up a lot of people and how people us that experience and to push harder like they did to win the memorial cup.Witch proves that something things go wrong but you use those things that went wrong to push yourself and do better.It really tells an important sport about life and how things don't always work out.This book is very inspirational on how they turned a bad thing it to a great thing.

[Kristen]

I decided to take my chances to read this book almost 3 months after the Humboldt Broncos bus accident occurred. Thought in some wired and odd way it might help. Sudden Death is about the Swift Current bus crash that happened on December 30, 1986 and how the team got through the tragedy . I did find a few similarities between the two bus tragedies making this book very hard to read, especially the first several pages. It also help shed light for me what it might have been like for these players and team in 1986 and then in 2018. They were all so young! Shelton Kennedy was one players on the bus in 1986 and Graham James was the coach so there is also parts in this book about the molesting charges against James. It made me so angry reading about the night of the bus crash James only seemed to care about just a couple the boys and the speculating that James didn't want professional help dealing with the tragedy because he was afraid the truth would come out. Back then, professional help probably didn't mean what it means today, but it is still terribly sad...........
One of the authors of Sudden Death is Leesa Culp, who witness the bus accident that many years after when she figured out that what happened that day and the details, took it upon herself to start writing this book for everyone involved with the help from Gregg Drinnan and Bob Wilkie. To heal and remember.
Sudden Death was well written!

[Natasha Dubé · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Still incredible to think of everything that happened in those few years in Swift Current (deadly bus crash, Memorial Cup, predatory coach). This book does jump from topic to topic, and often repeats itself, but the subject matter is fascinating. An enjoyable read.

[Johnny Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly interesting story. Well written outside of vanity by Bob Wilkie. A must read for hockey fans but generally most people would enjoy this book.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much going on in the narrative of this story... It needed to be written but it also needed to be edited better. Too much repetition throughout the book.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

On December 30, 1986, a bus carrying the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos skidded off the Trans-Canadian Highway in a snowstorm, killing four of the team’s players. The Broncos are a Canadian junior team in which the young men are teenagers with dreams of playing in the NHL. A witness to the crash who also helped injured players, Leesa Culp, wrote this powerful book to tell the story about that night and some of the players who were on that bus.

There are many reasons that this tragedy is still remembered thirty years later. One is the sheer amount of talent on that team. Five players were drafted by NHL teams, four of them (Joe Sakic, Peter Soberlak, Ryan McGill and Bob Wilkie) within the first 44 selections. Another talented player on the team, Sheldon Kennedy, was also profiled in the book as well because the triumph of the team winning the 1989 Memorial Trophy as the best junior team only three years after the tragedy was overshadowed by his revelation that coach Graham James had been sexually abusing Kennedy.

That sad story is discussed at the end of the book and just like the crash, the story needed to be told. But it did not take away anything from the stories of the crash survivors, one of whom was a co-author of the book, Bob Wilkie. To read about what those young men endured without counseling and how they came back to not only finish the season but to start a championship run two short years later is truly amazing.

The four players killed (Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff, younger brother of current Dallas Stars coach Lindsey Ruff) are always on the minds of the players throughout the book and each one has a brief write-up. Because the book is about the surviving players and also Culp, who was invited to all reunions and events that involved the players on that bus, the stories were all the more moving in their authenticity and genuine emotion.

One last aspect of the book that I appreciated is that as an American hockey fan who is not familiar with the Canadian junior leagues, the book also was a good introduction to the player’s life in the juniors. It talked about the billeting families, the travel and the practices. Because these are young men in their teenage years, seeing it through their eyes as told to Culp was an education and has made me wish to learn more about these leagues.

Anyone interested in the Canadian junior leagues, this team or even just hockey in general will enjoy this book – highly recommended.

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[Karis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't mean to say that I really liked the content of this book as much of it is tragic and troubling, but I did enjoy learning more about the stories of the people involved in the bus crash. It isn't something you hear much about. Understandably, I think, most of those involved are pretty hesitant to talk about it.

[Glenda Bettin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really well written, sad at times of course