It was just another day in the life of a professional hockey player... getting on a bus for a road trip that they've done over 1000 times from junior hockey to college to the present.

But on January 19, the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League would endure what no hockey team should ever have to go through.

instagram" width="398" style="float: right; width: 100%; margin: auto;" />Jon Turk's Instagram post following the Columbus Cottonmouth's bus crash January 19.

On that bus were two former Okotoks Oilers, Jon Turk & Alex Kromm.

As you could only imagine the accident is something Turk will never forget.

"You can definitely say that was the scariest moment of my life," he says. "We were just driving down and we were getting close for the most part everyone was awake and aware of where we were. Guys were laying in their bunks and there's no windows back there and that's where I was. I just felt the rumble strips going and next thing you know we're getting tossed around and end up on our side. It's something you can't really prepare for or be ready and just feel helpless at that point."

Memories of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos bus crash where four players lost their lives rang out in the hockey world when the news broke of the accident, but luckily no one would suffer that fate.

Turk says once the bus came to a stop, everyone sprung into action to aid those trapped.

"You just see stuff flying at you so you protect yourself and then once everything calms down it was like 'What's Going On?' and then next thing you know you're looking to make sure all your teammates are ok. I had Alex Kromm right next to me and I had to pull him out from under some stuff. Then we really had to look for everyone, we had one teammate underneath a lot of things and we had to dig him out and then we just had to figure out how to get out of that bus."

Turk and the rest of the team were able to escape through the bus' emergency exit on its roof.

Only six members of the Cottonmouths would suit up in their game that weekend including Turk & Kromm while the team called in support from a number of places in the country to fill their roster while others were recovering from their injuries but when they got to Peoria Civic Centre Turk received a little extra support from a couple members of the hockey community that have ties to the Oilers and the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

Former Oiler Cody Dion playing for Peoria was one of the first players to contact Turk following the accident to see if he was ok.

Turk played with Dion on the Oilers in his rookie season in 2009-10. As for the Cottonmouths, one game would be postponed on that Friday but on Saturday the Rivermen & Cottonmouths suited up like it was any other day in the pros.

"He had actually sent me a couple messages once he found out about the accident and made sure I was ok," Turk says. "Another former AJHL player Adam Stuart he actually played in Okotoks for a little bit too. He was another guy that looked out and made sure I was ok and made sure everyone was fine and then once you're on the ice you kind of forget about it all and it's back to business, you're playing a normal game and they're enemies and then as soon as the game ended it was really nice they all came over and shook our hands and gave us hugs and made us know they were looking out for us."

The Rivermen would knock off the Cottonmouths in overtime 5-4 with Kromm notching one of the goals for Columbus but that game was just that, a game and the well being of others was still the state of mind for everyone.

Since the weekend two members of the Cottonmouths remain in hospital including their driver and goaltender Brandon Jaeger recovering from surgery.

Turk and the Cottonmouths are back at home this weekend against the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs.

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