Stranded behind enemy lines, their troop transport a smoky, charred mess, the Cochrane Generals were at the mercy of their enemy. What did the enemy do? Take care of the Gens in their time of need.
Stranded behind enemy lines, their troop transport a smoky, charred mess, the Cochrane Generals were at the mercy of their enemy.
What did the enemy do? Take care of the Gens in their time of need.
Just goes to show the game of hockey is bigger than the players.
After her team's chartered diesel coach suffered an engine fire in the Coaldale Arena parking lot March 5, Gens general manager Jacqui Hurlbert went to full damage-control mode, scrambling to find another bus for her team's 260-kilometre trip home. The Gens had just lost 4-1 to the host Coaldale Copperheads in Heritage Junior Hockey League Southern Division final play; all Gens clothing, bottled water and other personal items on the bus smoke-contaminated and unusable.
Local firefighters extinguished the bus blaze quickly, but the event resembled a war zone as smoke from the burning bus filled the arena, putting the facility on lockdown briefly in the second period. The game continued to the end, with Coaldale slithering back into the best-of-7 series (Cochrane leads 2-1) with a 4-1 victory.
Left licking their wounds following a loss on the hostile battlefield known as the “Snakepit, ” who should come to the Gens' rescue?
“We would like to thank the Coaldale Arena for accommodating the team until the arrival of the replacement bus, ” Hurlbert reported on the Generals Facebook page. “As well, we would like to thank the Coaldale Copperheads Junior Hockey board members who helped in trying to find us new transportation and for providing us with a flat of waters for our ride home to replace the ones we lost in the fire. ”
Take a bow, Coaldale, for making the three-hour wait for a Gens replacement coach as comfy as possible.
Gens president Ken Soloski provided more details about the bus blaze, cause of which is still being determined.
“I guess the engine was on fire just outside our dressing room, ” said Soloski, who didn't make the trip to Coaldale for Game 3. He was taking live updates from Hurlbert. “The fire department was there and smoke got on the bus, smoke got in the dressing room. The players had to move into another dressing room. My understanding is the engine caught on fire. There was a lot of smoke. The problem was the smoke. The fire's out. There was just a lot of smoke. ”
Soloski was unable to name the bus company, as the Gens were using a different charter company than they usually do.
“Unfortunately, the bus company has to send a bus from Calgary. Our guys got off the ice at 10:30, and they have to sit there until 12:30. ”
The replacement coach arrived about 2 a.m., with the weary Gens rolling back into Cochrane 5 a.m. Sunday (March 6). No injuries were reported in the incident. But all the smoke-damaged items and clothing on the bus were bagged and carted home in the underneath baggage area of the replacement motor coach.
“It would have been a lot easier to take if we'd won the game, ” Soloski cracked. The Generals lead the best-of-7 HJHL Southern Division final series 2-1. But Game 3 is one they'd rather forget. Game 4 goes March 9 in Coaldale, and the Copperheads will be showing none of the hospitality on the ice as they have off it.
Stay classy, Coaldale.
