The first day at school after a crash that claimed the lives of seven members of a Bathurst, N.B. high school basketball team was an important day of healing, the principal said Monday.

"The tragic accident that claimed the lives of our seven students and my dear colleague was so horrific that I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to our school," Colleen Ramsay told reporters.

She said the school and students "have taken the first difficult step toward regaining the spirit that Bathurst High School is known for."

More than 30 grief counsellors were on hand at Bathurst high school to help students deal with the loss. Along with the seven members of the team, the coach's wife Elizabeth Lord, a 51-year-old music teacher, was also killed.

Beth Stymiest, Lord's friend and fellow teacher, said she was an intelligent and selfless friend and teacher. She loved to laugh, and often hosted staff parties, with the help of a karaoke machine.

"She believed everyone could learn to sing, and she tried to prove it with that karaoke machine. But the results were mixed," Stymiest said.

Classes did not resume on Monday. Instead, students gathered at the high school as a way to heal and mourn.

"They needed opportunities to be together," said Eric Smith, the crisis response coordinator. "We're riding a wave of emotion."

Superintendent John McLaughlin said students spent the day playing basketball, watching videos of their friends and creating artwork and websites in their honour.

"By the end of the morning, I'm just so happy to tell you that there was laughter again in some of the classrooms," McLaughlin told reporters.

The crash occurred early Saturday when the van the team was travelling in smashed into a tractor trailer on an icy highway just south of Bathurst, N.B.

While the coach has now been released from hospital, two other team members and the coach's daughter, who was travelling with the team, are still being treated in hospital for non life-threatening injuries.

Codey Branch, Javier Acevedo, Nathan Cleland, Justin Cormier and Daniel Hains were all 17 years old. The other two students, Nickolas Quinn and Nicholas Kelly were 16 and 15 respectively.

The accident has been blamed on a storm that created icy roads and dangerous driving conditions.

There are some questions about whether a policy review is required on winter travel. However, Kelly Lamrock, New Brunswick's education minister, said the time for that is after the crash's cause is known.

The community's loss

The father of one of the dead boys made it clear the loss wasn't just his family's alone.

"It's not just my loss today. It's the community's loss of a good young being," Dale Branch, Codey's father, told Canada AM on Monday.

"He's with friends -- he's still with friends," Dale said of his son, "and that's what keeps a lot of people strong."

Dale Branch said community support -- and from across Canada -- has been a great help to him and other members of this family. He was also touched by the Toronto Raptors holding a moment of silence before Sunday's NBA basketball game to honour the dead players.

The group was only minutes from the end of its 220-kilometre journey following a game Friday evening in Moncton. The players' parents were waiting for them in the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant.

Two other members of the team were sick, and weren't travelling with their teammates when the crash took place.

"They were the greatest group of guys anybody could ever hope to play with," said team captain Jordan Frenette, one of those who didn't make the trip.

"A lot of people nailed it on the head when they said we played really well together because we were more of a family than a basketball team."

With only about 13,000 residents, almost everyone in Bathurst has some connection to those who were killed.

In Bathurst, memorials sprung up around town, including one at the crash scene which had a steady queue of vehicles lined up to pay respects and observe the tribute, CTV's Jed Kahane said.

"Some of the friends decided that these athletes died doing one of the things they love most, playing basketball, so one of the fathers arranged to have two portable basketball nets brought out to the crash sites."

The nets were set up and the baskets filled with flowers and farewell notes from well-wishers.

An arena in Bathurst has been reserved for the players' funeral, scheduled for Wednesday. The ice will be covered over to allow more seating to accommodate the large crowd expected to come out.

"We're concerned about whether we can hold everybody who wants to be there," Brunet said.

In Moncton, members of the Purple Knights basketball team will wear a Bathurst High logo on their uniforms for the reminder of the season and all of next season -- a way of showing respect to the team they played right before the tragic accident.

On Wednesday, the Moncton high school team will travel to Bathurst to remember seven fellow basketball players at a public funeral.

Private wakes for the seven boys who died in the crash are planned for Tuesday and a private funeral service for Beth Lord will be held Thursday.