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Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: This Humboldt Crash Survivor Is Showing Incredible Bravery

Bus crash survivor Ryan Straschnitzki is paralyzed from the chest down but isn’t giving up on hockey. 

Dan Gartland

Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: This Humboldt Crash Survivor Is Showing Incredible Bravery
Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: This Humboldt Crash Survivor Is Showing Incredible Bravery /

Such an Amazing Attitude

There are so many heartbreaking stories coming out of Saskatchewan after the horrific bus crash over the weekend that killed 15 members of a junior hockey team, but this one is bittersweet. 

Ryan Straschnitzki, an 18-year-old defenseman for the Humboldt Broncos, survived the crash but was left paralyzed from the chest down. Just hours after waking up from surgery, though, Ryan was already making plans to continue his hockey career.

“He keeps wanting to try and move his legs, of course, because he wants to go back skating,” Ryan’s father, Tom, told the Calgary Herald. “He just looked at me and his mother and he goes, ‘Well, I’m gonna get onto the Olympic sledge hockey team.’”

Ryan still has a long way to go before he can think about getting back on the ice, but he’s eager to get going. 

“He’s already wanting to start working out again and trying to make a sledge hockey team,” his dad told the Herald. “He asked me how you skate and I went, ‘No idea, buddy.’”

They’re Called PEDs for a Reason

Regardless of how you feel about performance-enhancing drug use in baseball, we can all agree this Mark McGwire quote doesn’t make any sense. 

McGwire said in a new interview with The Athletic’s Jayson Stark that he could have hit 70 homers in a season even if he didn’t use PEDs.

​"I just know myself. I just know," McGwire said. "I was a born home-run hitter. I mean, unfortunately, I did (take PEDs). And I've regretted that. I've talked about that. I regretted it. I didn't need to. That's the thing. Didn't need to.

"But I know. Deep down inside, I know me as a hitter. And I know what I did in that box. And I know how strong my mind is. And I know what kind of hitter I became. And yes. Yes. Definitely."

That’s just delusional. If he doesn’t believe the drugs enhanced his performance, why did he take them?

Spring Baseball!

This isn’t what both Chicago teams had in mind when they scheduled their home openers on Monday. A late snowstorm covered Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate Field in snow and only the South Side park was playable. The players seemed to be having fun, though. 

Bits & Pieces

It’s a miracle Tony Finau was able to finish in the top 10 at the Masters when his ankle looked like this. ... A New York man ate the world’s hottest pepper and started suffering from what doctors call “thunderclap headaches.” ... Floyd Mayweather’s entourage was the target of a shooting at an Atlanta hotel. ... Russell Westbrook was at a Miami nightclub at 1:30 a.m., then he went out and recorded a monster triple-double. ... Rapper Cardi B is a massive presidential history nerd. ... HBO’s Andre the Giant documentary premieres tonight, so it’s a good time to read SI’s classic 1981 profile of him. ... A bunch of YouTube’s most popular music videos were hacked by pro-Palestine activists. 

Proof We Live in a Simulation

In Awe of the Size of This Lad

One of the Best Goals You’ll Ever See

Joey Votto Up to His Usual Tricks

Just Like Bo

That’s Not the Microphone

A Good Song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or ping me on Twitter. Click here for previous editions of Hot Clicks. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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