EVERETT — It was the kind of journey only Steve Martin and John Candy could appreciate.
Twenty hours, four different buses, more snow than Santa Claus could handle, plus a cameo from a traveling group of German tourists.
It’s a script meant for Hollywood with the Everett Silvertips in the starring role and the roads to and from Kelowna, B.C., the setting.
“For me it was the craziest trip by far,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “In my 22 years in hockey I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was like ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’ but they were all buses.”
When the team departed Tuesday night for it’s game Wednesday in Kelowna, no one could have predicted the Dante’s Inferno-like descent the Tips were about to experience.
On the way to Kelowna, the bus spent almost 10 hours trudging through a blizzard, causing the trip to take twice as long as normal. Then on the way back the bus broke down on the highway, nearly leaving the team stranded in the middle of nowhere. In between, the Tips were beaten by the Rockets 5-1.
But fortunately for the Tips, this tale has a happy ending as the team made it home safe and sound, if a little travel weary.
“It was just a long nightmare,” Everett captain Jonathan Harty said. “It was never ending. But this is major junior hockey and everyone has to deal with things like this.”
The adventure began Tuesday night. The Tips departed for Kelowna immediately following their 2-1 home loss to Prince Albert. The plan was to pull into Kelowna at about 3 a.m. and get some sleep before that night’s game. It didn’t quite work out that way.
“We attempted to get on I-5 off Everett Avenue and the exit was closed,” said Everett equipment manager James Stucky, the team’s travel planner who also provided a detailed account of Everett’s travails. “We should have figured out the bad omen right there.”
After crossing the border into Canada, the Tips soon encountered a major snowstorm — Stucky described it as the thickest snowfall he’s encountered in 15 years working in hockey — as they headed north on the Coquihalla Highway. Heading up the mountains the highway narrowed to one lane, and three times traffic came to a stop because of stuck vehicles. Everett didn’t arrive in Kelowna until 8 a.m., a bus ride lasting 91/2 hours.
Who could have guessed that would be the easy leg?
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Everett’s coaches and Stucky deliberated on what to do afterward. Normally the Tips would have headed home right after the game finished. But with the snow conditions still dicey, they decided to stay overnight and leave in the morning, a decision that turned out to be crucial considering what happened next.
Once again it was the Coquihalla Highway where things went wrong. This time as they were heading down the mountains the bus broke down, leaving a massive pool of red fluid in the snow beneath it. Stucky estimated the fluid cut a swath about four feet in diameter
For those who aren’t familiar with the Coquihalla Highway, heading south there’s no sign of civilization until after it terminates near the town of Hope. And with the bus broken down approximately 25 kilometers away from the end of the highway, the team was stranded in an area where they couldn’t get cell phone reception.
What now? How about a bus carrying German tourists to the rescue?
About an hour after Everett’s bus broke down, another bus pulled up behind and the driver poked his head out to see what was wrong. Turns out this bus was taking about 10 German tourists on a skiing trip through B.C., and they were headed from Kelowna to Whistler. They offered to take the team into Hope and everyone piled in.
“It seemed a little like ‘Dumb and Dumber’ when they say ‘If we can just catch a break,’ and we caught our break,” Becanic said with a smile. “They were all happy to see us and the bus driver was from Kelowna, so he said as long as we lost it was fine.”
So the team arrived in Hope and found a McDonald’s with a large seating area, and the workers were kind enough to let the team wait there until a replacement bus arrived.
While they waited, the players were given an hour to wander around town and they came upon a hill. They encountered the owner of a nearby house who gave them sleds to use, so they spent the free hour frolicking on the hill, a welcome respite from their travel troubles.
Eventually the replacement bus arrived. The team first had to travel back to the broken-down bus to transfer their equipment, all at the side of the highway. Then when they got back down to the border they had to switch to yet another bus, again having to transfer their equipment. They finally arrived home at about 7:30 p.m. after 101/2 hours on the road.
“We were fortunate we didn’t leave the previous night,” Becanic said. “Had the bus broken down in the middle of the night we would have been in big trouble.
“The guys made the most of it,” Becanic added. “It certainly made for a long two or three days, but everybody’s healthy and that’s the most important thing.”
Slap shots: Everett right wing Dan Gendur was once again recognized by the league, this time being named the WHL Player of the Month. Gendur had 10 goals and 16 assists in 14 games during January. The award came four days after being named Player of the Week. … Everett defenseman Mike Alexander is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury. Alexander suffered the injury during the game in Kelowna. The severity of the injury is still to be determined, but he’s definitely out for today’s game against Vancouver and most likely next week’s games.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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