Luc Bourdon, a promising young defenceman in the Vancouver Canucks organization, was killed Thursday afternoon when his motorcycle collided with a tractor-trailer near his hometown in northern New Brunswick.
More details from The Province:
Bourdon died instantly at around 12:30 p.m. New Brunswick time when the motorcycle he was driving hit a tractor-trailer head-on on Hwy. 113 in Lameque, N.B. That small town is about 10 minutes away from Bourdon’s Shippagan hometown.
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Bourdon’s family has been told by the RCMP that the cause of the accident is believed to be a strong wind gust which blew Bourdon’s bike into the oncoming truck.
Alanah at Canucks and Beyond has more here and here:
Which brings me back to Luc Bourdon. I didn’t know him at all and am in no position to eulogize his loss, but by all accounts he was a nice young man. Yet for most of us, our acquaintance with him was simply as a talented hockey player with a great future.
But today I think it’s important to remember that he was both things—the nice young man and the talented hockey player.
This all brings up questions about athletes, and the things they do in their off time. Football fans remember the motorcycle accident Ben Roethlisberger got in, and the accident the Danny Heatly had that wound up killing Dan Snyder. More so in the off-season, athletes love things that go fast. Maybe it’s the lack of intensity afforded by a season of hard work, or maybe it’s something else. I don’t know.
Reports are that Bourdon got his motorcycle only a few days before the accident. They say there are only two types of motorcyclists, those who have been in an accident, and those that will be in an accident. I was told, when I took my motorcycle safety class, that there are people who should ride motorcycles, and those who shouldn’t. Unfortunately, people often find out which one they are about a moment too late. I found out for myself the hard way. I’m here to tell you, it takes very little for something to go wrong on two wheels. I am lucky enough to have lived to tell the tale (with the help of a helmet, riding jacket, gloves, and good shoes).
The responsibility one has to a team pales in comparison to the responsibility one has to themselves, or to their family. You can legislate away every detail in a persons life (just ask the U.S. Congress), but people should be left to make their own decisions. Motorcycle accidents happen all the time, and they are usually just a blurb on the evening news. It’s only at times like this, when it’s someone we recognize, when people have a connection on a wider basis, that we understand how tragic these things really are. I think we tend to think of how tragedies like this affect a player’s team as a way of coping as a fan, and not understanding how deep something like this cuts the people who are directly involved. We think like fans, because he is an athlete, and it becomes hockey news. I believe that’s OK. It’s the connection with the people involved. It’s our context.
It’s understandable why people’s thoughts turn to the team. It says a lot about the human condition. In one perspective, it looks as though we are cold and callous, that we only care about sports. The other is that we look for a way to care, a way to connect to these people, and we are looking for a way to share the pain, and to understand the tragedy.
I don’t want this to sound cold. Motorcycle accidents are common. My dad had a few, I had one, and both of us lived through it. There are a lot of people who aren’t so lucky. Luc Bourdon was one of those, and the sport of hockey helps us connect to him. Hopefully, knowing there are so many hockey fans that care in their own way, it helps make things a little bit better for his family.
Oh, and if you decide that you want to ride a motorcycle, scooter, or any of the other variations, I suggest looking at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation website, and taking a course.