Kelowna Rockets lend helping hand after Seattle T-Birds’ bus hits ditch
Weather and road conditions along the Elkhart section of the Okanagan Connector on Wednesday morning, Jan. 10, 2024.
Normally stout opponents, the Kelowna Rockets came to the aid of the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday night.
The two WHL teams are set to play in Kelowna on Wednesday evening, but Seattle’s team bus slid off the road en route to the Okanagan and hit the ditch.
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The bus hit the ditch around 50 kilometres from West Kelowna, sometime around 7 p.m., with the Thunderbirds saying on social media that no one was injured. Police say the bus hit an icy patch.
The Rockets say they heard about the incident, then contacted the Thunderbirds, with Kelowna president and GM Bruce Hamilton sending out his team bus to pick up Seattle.
“We got wind through the tow-truck company and I called (the team),” Hamilton said. “I told them we’d send our bus up. And away it went, picked them up and got them here.”
Incidents involving junior hockey team buses are rare — considering how many junior teams there are across B.C. alone, and how often they’re on the road. But when they happen, rival teams quickly step in to help.
“You know what? We’re all partners,” Hamilton said. “They would do the same for me. You help out because you don’t want anybody sitting up there for an extended period of time.”
Global News has reached out to the Seattle Thunderbirds for comment.
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Road conditions along sections of the Okanagan Connector are slippery, as witnessed by DriveBC webcams.
Weather conditions along the Okanagan Connector as of Wednesday morning show nine centimetres of new snow and temperatures around -12 C. Nearby, the Coquihalla Summit received 30 cm of snow on Jan. 8-9.
Following Wednesday’s game, the Rockets are off to Prince George for two weekend games and will leave Thursday. Meanwhile, Seattle will travel back home, as they host Portland on Friday.
Further, Environment Canada is forecasting a cold snap that will chill B.C.’s Interior. Temperatures on Friday for Kelowna feature a high of -18 C and an overnight low of -25 C. In Prince George, it’ll be even colder at -28 C and -36 C.
“With this weather that’s coming in, and the cold, we don’t want to be travelling in the evening,” Hamilton said. “We want to go up in the daytime.”