The town of Allan, Sask. is renaming its community arena after Logan Schatz, the late Humboldt Broncos captain who died in last year’s bus crash.
After the promising hockey career of the 20 year old was cut short, people in Schatz’s hometown wanted to give him a proper tribute.
“We needed, as a community, to do something,” Allan Mayor Les Alm told CTV Saskatoon. “Whenever [people] come into this rink, they’ll be coming into the Logan Schatz Memorial Arena.”
It was in the now-formerly named Allan Community Centre, where Schatz learned to skate when he was only three. His father Kelly Schatz told CTV Saskatoon that “you had to drag him off the ice” because Logan never wanted to stop skating.
On Saturday, more than 100 people, including Schatz’s parents and families of other Broncos players, packed into the arena for the renaming ceremony.
“It's a pretty big honour,” Schatz’s father said. “You often wonder, is he going to stay remembered as time goes on? Now you know he will be, somewhat. It's there forever."
One of Schatz’s former teachers took two of the late captain’s hockey sticks to create the arena’s new signs. But Schatz’s mother Bonnie was initially hesitant to give up her son’s equipment.
“I was reluctant to hand him over any of Logan’s sticks but now, seeing the sign, it’s beautiful,” she told CTV Saskatoon. “I’m glad I did.”
