Families of victims killed in the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan, Canada, have launched a scathing attack on Netflix over an upcoming drama series titled The Sticks, accusing the streaming company of exploiting their agony.
Scott Thomas, whose 18-year-old son Evan was killed alongside 15 others in the disaster, spoke out after learning details of the show, which follows a small-town Minnesota hockey team rebuilding after a fatal bus crash.
Netflix has stated that the series is fictional and was not inspired by any real-life event. However, grieving relatives insist the parallels to the April 6, 2018 tragedy are unmistakable, particularly as the show depicts a coach's widow helping her community turn grief into triumph.
"There is no triumph in any of this," Thomas said. "And there never will be."
Thomas first learned of The Sticks earlier this year when a Canadian reporter contacted him for a reaction. After spending several hours researching the production, he said he was struck by an accumulation of uncomfortable similarities.
He rejected Netflix's denial, describing the company's position as "weak at best."
"Unless you've completely had your head buried in the sand for the last eight years... there's no way people at Netflix didn't know about this, or at least someone in their chain of command must've noticed the similarities," Thomas said.
Thomas added that while he was under no illusion that a major American corporation cared about affected Canadian families, he was deeply disappointed. A request seeking comment on Thomas's claims was not returned by Netflix.
The Humboldt Broncos are a junior ice hockey team based in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, competing in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. On April 6, 2018, the team was travelling to a playoff game when their bus collided with a semi-trailer at a rural intersection, killing 16 players and staff and injuring 13 others in one of the deadliest traffic collisions in Canadian history.
Parallels to Real Life Tragedy
Evan Thomas suffered multiple skull fractures in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene before being buried ten days later. For Scott Thomas, the tragedy shattered his life, leading to a divorce and leaving his daughter forever changed by the loss of her older brother and best friend.
Thomas explained that he continues to retrace the sequence of events on the day of the crash almost second by second: taking a left-hand turn, watching ambulances rush past, seeing helicopters overhead, and arriving at a police barricade where officers told him he could go no farther.
While Thomas acknowledged that the Humboldt crash was a public event and a dark milestone in Canadian history, meaning Netflix did not need his permission, he expressed confusion over why no one consulted or warned the affected families.
What troubles him most is how The Sticks takes real grief familiar to families like his and reshapes it into a cleaner, more uplifting, and ultimately palatable narrative.
"If anybody watches this show and draws any parallels to Humboldt at all and says, 'Oh, that's okay, everybody's fine now,' well, we're not," Thomas said. "And we never will be."
He urged the creators to portray reality honestly rather than inventing a Hollywood story: "If you're going to tell the story, tell the real story. Don't switch the premise halfway through and create something about this team rising from the ashes like a phoenix... because that's just a complete departure from reality."
Widespread Anger Among Families
Criticism of The Sticks first emerged in January when the series and its premise were publicly announced. Other Humboldt families quickly accused Netflix of cutting uncomfortably close to their personal tragedy.
Michelle Straschnitzki, whose son Ryan was left paralyzed in the collision, told Global News Canada that the premise appeared to "sensationalize" the tragedy and warned that it was "not their story to tell." Her husband Tom Straschnitzki similarly accused Netflix of taking advantage of the families' grief.
Tyler Cameron, whose son Graysen survived the crash with a broken back, told SaskNOW that merely learning of the series was "hurtful" and triggering.
Thomas was among the earliest to object in January, stating at the time that learning of the project made his "heart sink" and felt like being "punched in the face."
Months later, with the show now in post-production and the first images from set shared earlier this week, Thomas said his view has only hardened. He fears the series could retraumatize families and survivors.
In The Sticks, the coach's widow, played by Michelle Monaghan, is a central character tasked with rebuilding the hockey team. Thomas expressed specific concern for Christina Haugan, whose husband, Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan, was killed in the 2018 crash.
"My goodness, how's Christina going to feel about that?" Thomas said. "I worry for Christina."
He added that he also worries for the young surviving players who must live with the physical and psychological consequences of the crash for decades to come.
Reinventing Aftermath Versus Living With Loss
For Thomas, there is an important distinction between revisiting tragedy truthfully and inventing its aftermath for dramatic effect. While he believes families must find a way to keep living, he rejects the notion that moving forward means grief has been conquered or transformed into triumph.
He recalled sitting at his kitchen table with his father the morning after the crash, after barely sleeping, watching the sun rise through an east-facing window.
"If there's ever a f***ing day in the history of the world where the sun shouldn't have come up, it did," Thomas said. "You don't move on, you never move on, but you do have to move forward... to find a way to exist because the sun keeps rising."
While Thomas said he would still take a call from Netflix, he does not expect one and believes it is too late for an apology to undo the hurt caused. When The Sticks is released next year, he does not plan to watch it and has encouraged others to boycott the show.
"I don't think they can put this genie back in the bottle," Thomas said. "But I would encourage people not to watch it. That's all I'd ask, because then maybe Netflix realizes they made a mistake - but people will do what they want."
Honoring the Memory of Evan Thomas
Since losing his son, Thomas has devoted much of his time to keeping Evan's memory alive. Through the Evan Thomas Memorial Trust, his family has funded scholarships for young athletes and donated to the hospital where injured Broncos players were treated.
The trust has also donated to STARS Air Ambulance, whose crews helped save survivors at the crash site. Local youth hockey players continue to wear stickers bearing Evan's name on their helmets.
Remembering his son as an "old soul" who was calm, thoughtful, naturally intelligent, and gifted with a sharp sarcastic sense of humor, Thomas said Evan was a good athlete who loved being part of something larger than himself.
"He just loved being a teammate," Thomas said.
For Thomas, preserving that true memory is what matters most, rather than altering reality for screen entertainment.
"It's tragic for the families and for the boys and staff who lost their lives, and it's tragic for the ones who survived and now have to live this reality for the rest of their lives," Thomas said. "There's no triumphs here. None whatsoever."
