Wheat Kings lend hand after Tigers’ driver dies

While the Medicine Hat Tigers and Brandon Wheat Kings battled on the ice on Wednesday evening, the real drama was taking place behind the scenes as one Western Hockey League club came to the aid of another.

During the game, Medicine Hat’s bus driver suffered a medical emergency at the Tim Hortons on the Trans-Canada Highway, and was taken to hospital by ambulance. That left the Tigers, who were in the midst of earning a 6-3 victory, with a locked bus running up on the North Hill, no way to get the vehicle to the rink and no rooms to stay in that night.

Mike Filipchuk, who is Brandon’s vice-president of business operations, found out about the situation and immediately swung into action with the help of several other people.

“My thought was that Medicine Hat doesn’t know anybody here,” Filipchuk said. “We have all the contacts. We have the bus companies, we have the restaurants, we have the hotels, we know who to call and who to talk to.

“That’s where I felt I could be the most value, I could make some calls, provide some names, how we get from point A to point B here.”

The situation came to Filipchuk’s attention midway through the second period after the Brandon Police Service contacted the Keystone Centre. A maintenance worker ended up speaking to an officer and getting his number.

By chance, Filipchuk was nearby and called the officer, who explained the situation to him, although he couldn’t share all the medical details because Filipchuk wasn’t family.

As the game continued on the ice, Filipchuk sought out Tigers video coach Jayce Desjardins, who wasn’t on the bench. From there, Filipchuk went to the bench with a couple members of the Keystone Centre’s security team and spoke to athletic therapist and equipment manager Mikki Lanuk.

After letting the team know, his next thought was getting in touch with the driver’s family.

“At that point, I’m thinking hopefully he’s being taken care of by our medical staff in Brandon and hopefully it was going to turn out, which it didn’t,” Filipchuk said of the driver, who later died. “From that point, it was ‘Somebody is going to the hospital, the Tigers are stranded here, how I can help them to make sure this is not a more stressful situation. How can I help?’”

During the second intermission, Filipchuk spoke to the Medicine Hat coaching staff, and a Tigers assistant coach checked with the CanadInns to check if they had rooms available if needed. The team later did stay in the hotel.

Clubs traditionally pre-order their post-game meals to eat on the bus, so that was taken care of, but Filipchuk’s thought process included potentially finding another charter bus to get them home.

The status of the Tigers bus was a slightly more vexing issue, because it was locked and running. Filipchuk quickly reached out to former Wheat Kings coach David Anning, who owns and operates Brandon-based Compass Coach Lines with his wife Jenn.

“He was great,” Filipchuk said. “As soon as I called him he was instantly ‘How can I help?’ What can I do? I’ve never had this occur before but let me know what you need.’ Everybody just jumped in and was willing to chip in right away.”

Anning, who coached in the league from 2012 to 2019 and started Compass Coach Lines in 2020, said the call was difficult in a couple of ways.

“We didn’t have all the details initially, but as you learn more it certainly hits you hard,” Anning said. “From a hockey perspective, your driver typically spends a lot of time with you on the road. You typically have the same driver for most trips so you really get to know that person and they become part of the team. It would hit hard for the staff for sure, for the majority of the players, it would be very, very difficult news to receive.

“From the other side of things as a bus operator, your drivers are your people. They’re part of your family and a critical part of your operation and you become very close to those people. It would be very, very difficult news for everybody to receive.”

Traxx Coachlines, who operates the Tigers bus, ended up contacting Anning directly.

The Compass fleet was tied up in Thompson at the Manitoba Winter Games, but they did have a driver available to lend a hand. He went up to the restaurant, and after a local towing company popped the lock, drove the bus down to the Keystone Centre.

The bus drove to door 16 at the Keystone, the players ran out to grab what they needed and then the vehicle, which now couldn’t be locked, was stored indoors in an open bay at Compass.

Meanwhile, Brandon equipment manager Jake McKercher grabbed Medicine Hat’s laundry and washed their socks and game jerseys, and the Tigers were able to leave their equipment and sticks in the visitors dressing room overnight.

“It was just little things you wouldn’t think of or normally have to do when a team is leaving,” Filipchuk said, noting the Keystone Centre continued to help out as needed too.

The Annings picked up the new driver at the Brandon airport after he arrived on Thursday afternoon, and took him to the bus at Compass. It arrived at the Keystone Centre around 1:45 p.m., and the team departed on the 830-kilometre trip around 2 p.m.

Filipchuk, who is quick to deflect credit to all the others who helped out on Wednesday evening, said hockey is ultimately a very small world.

“It was just something I thought we needed to help with,” Filipchuk said. “If that happened to us, I would hope other teams would jump in and do the same thing.”

Anning agreed.

“You’re competitors on the ice and things certainly get heated and there are rivalries, but at the end of the day, everybody definitely works together, they always have,” Anning said. “Whether that’s management or coaches, organizations definitely look out for each other.

“That could be anything. This a terrible tragedy and something that fortunately don’t see very often, but there are all sorts of situations where teams help each other, whether it be a bus breaking down or a late-night arrival at an arena, whether it be assistance with hotels or meals. There is always stuff.

“… As much as teams are ultra-competitive on the ice, you have to work together.”

WHL commissioner Dan Near and Tigers general manager Willie Desjardins were both unavailable for comment.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com