‘Sideways’: Bob Wilkie’s documentary delves into Swift Current Broncos bus crash

The documentary 'Sideways' will be shown at MRU. It's the story of the Swift Current Broncos bus crash and about turning tragedy into something positive.

It was Dec. 30, 1986, and the Swift Current Broncos were on their way to Regina, Sask., to play the Pats.

Shortly after leaving town, their bus hit a patch of black ice and crashed.

Four players – Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff – tragically died in the accident.

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At the time, 17-year-old Bob Wilkie was a defenceman with the Broncos.

He says that day haunted him.

“It’s like watching some of those movies that you get to watch where you just can’t believe what you’re seeing,” he said.

“What you’re seeing, what you’re experiencing and what you’re hearing, it was overwhelming to the point where the shock in my system just shut it down.”

Didn’t talk about it

It didn’t help that Graham James – later convicted for the sexual abuse of players on his teams – was the Broncos’ head coach.

Wilkie says James didn’t allow the team to talk about the crash or to seek professional help.

“The unfortunate part of this story is that dark underbelly of Graham, and what he was doing with some of my teammates, and the support and help to bring somebody in was denied,” he said.

“I know that there were definitely people offering to come in and help, but it just wasn’t going to be allowed.”

Dark days

Wilkie says the silence led to mental-health problems.

Over the years, he turned to alcohol to cope with the pain.

When that didn’t help, Wilkie says he had thoughts of giving up.

“You know, 24 years old and playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, that was the first time I felt like maybe it was time to end it. It was just so painful,” he said.

Helping others

Wilkie decided to live, a choice that started him on a journey of helping others.

He started I Got Mind, with the mission to heal together, grow stronger and change the conversation around mental illness.

Wilkie says his mission to help others is why he wanted to do a documentary, called Sideways, about trauma, resilience and healing.

Wilkie says his hope is that the documentary can help others.

“I’m really excited about maybe that one person out there who’s all alone and really struggling and sees that there’s this documentary out there and watches it,” he said.

“To have it out there in the world, it’s a pretty proud moment.”

The Sideways documentary will be shown at the Mount Royal University concert hall on Nov. 24.

You can get tickets at igotmind.ca.