Of all the flowers, banners and other memorials to the Humboldt Broncos at the Elgar Petersen Area, one stood out to Mayor Rob Muench.

It’s a metal hockey stick with barbed wire on the blade instead of tape and 16 holes drilled through it.

“Somebody went through a lot of work in their grieving process to build that,” he told Bolt FM.

The ice came out of the EPA on Friday, and Muench stopped by the night before to take a final look.

He couldn’t find a square inch on all the banners that wasn’t signed with messages from all over Canada and into the United States.

“It was just awe-inspiring to see.”

Life in the city is slowly getting back into a regular routine, he said. It’s been a tough three weeks since the fatal bus crash, but some events whose cancellation was debated are going ahead.

“It’s good to see the community is starting to do some of those things to get a bit of routine back again. The ice coming out of the EPA is going to be another step in the process, I think, of getting back to our regular everyday life and to start the healing process for our community.”