Canadians at Milano-Cortina Games offer support to community of Tumbler Ridge after mass shooting

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Doug Armstrong says real life “trumps anything we’re doing here” as he joined other Canadians at the Milan Cortina Olympics who offered condolences to those impacted by the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

Ten people are dead after the shootings on Tuesday in the tiny community in B.C.’s Peace region, including the lone suspect who police said died at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School by suicide.

“First, before we start, just wanted to send our thoughts and prayers from the men’s hockey team out to the Tumbler Ridge community,” the general manager of Canada’s men’s hockey team said in a press conference before his team’s tournament opening game against Czechia. “We’re with you, and you’re in our prayers.”

Armstrong added that news of the shooting “affects everybody.”

“This is sport, and we understand there’s real life, and that trumps anything we’re doing here,” he said. “But all we can do is send our love, send our support, and then go out and do our jobs.”

Head coach Jon Cooper grew up in Prince George, B.C., the closest major city to Tumbler Ridge, and remembers the growth of the community. Tumbler Ridge was developed in the early 1980s as a purpose-built coal-mining town in northeastern British Columbia.

“That’s a tough one. I stayed in the hotel there growing up, had friends, and that town kind of became an instant town,” Cooper said. “I had friends go over there and work there.

“Obviously, I haven’t been back in a long time. But you think about tragedies that happen … usually they happen somewhere else, so you never really feel the effect of it touching close to home. But this one’s close to home, and my heart goes out to all the families.”

Forward Sam Reinhart, from West Vancouver, called the news “devastating.”

“You’re waking up this morning and seeing it online, it’s been pretty tough. They’re in our thoughts and prayers over here. We’ve got an opportunity to go represent the country and do them proud. It’s a tough time back there. We’re thinking of all of them.”

Hockey teams come together

The members of the men’s hockey team joined the Canadian Olympic Committee, women’s curling coach Heather Nedohin and alpine skier Cassidy Gray in offering condolences to those affected by the shooting.

“We are heartbroken by the news of the horrific school shooting that occurred in British Columbia,” the COC said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones, those who are injured, and the entire Tumbler Ridge community. Team Canada stands with everyone affected as they navigate difficult days ahead.”

Nedohin lives in Sherwood Park, Alta., but was born and raised in Fort St. John, B.C., about 170 kilometres away from Tumbler Ridge.

“I can’t imagine what everyone’s feeling (there) and across Canada,” she said. “That’s what we’re going to try to do is unite, and (get) behind everybody, and we’re here as well, understanding the struggles that everyone’s going through.”

Nedohin said she woke up to a message about the tragedy from a Canadian team attache.

“I (live) in Alberta, but I mean the sense of the community around there, I’m going to probably know somebody,” she said. “I’m waiting to hear from dad. I’m sure he’ll know more details.”

Gray, who is from Invermere, B.C., said her “heart is with all the victims and their families.”

“You are all in our thoughts over here in Italy,” Gray said in an Instagram post. “This one hits close to home as a small-town B.C. girl. Hug your people tight today.”

RCMP have said police are “not in a place” to understand what motivated a shooter suspected of killing two people at a home before going to a school and committing one of Canada’s worst mass shootings.

Tumbler Ridge is a town of about 2,700 residents in northern B.C. near the province’s border with Alberta.