'Beyond the crash': TV series on former Humboldt Bronco Ryan Straschnitzki set to air

Ryan Straschnitzki's life has been an open book since he was seriously injured in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, and his story is soon to be shown on TV.

The 26-year-old from Airdrie, Alta., was paralyzed from the chest down in 2018, when a semi-trailer ran a stop sign and barrelled into the path of the junior hockey team's bus in rural Saskatchewan.

Sixteen people died and 13 were hurt.

A film crew with Regina-based Prairie Cat Productions followed Straschnitzki for eight months and created a six-part series called "We Were Broncos." It airs on AMI, or Accessible Media Inc., beginning May 26.

Straschnitzki played on Alberta's Para hockey team and had been training with the Paralympic development team, but his journey ended at the Team Canada Olympic tryouts.

In July 2023, he decided to try to make the 2028 Paralympic basketball squad.

The move caught the attention of Lucas Frison, founder of Prairie Cat, who had completed a documentary for CBC on the Bronco team in the season after the crash.

"Looking back, seeing some of the footage and where I was to where I am now is a real eye opener. I think I've changed a lot as a person," Straschnitzki told The Canadian Press while shooting hoops at an outdoor court in Airdrie.

"I think at the beginning of the basketball season I kind of doubted myself a little bit. By the end of the season I was a lot more confident in myself and realized I have the ability to make it where I want to make it, if I put the work in."

Straschnitzki has been playing on a Calgary wheelchair basketball team and was invited to his first camp in July for Team Canada.

Frison, the producer and director for "We Were Broncos," was a close friend of Mark Cross, an assistant coach of the Broncos who died in