by Culp, Leesa
“I went out and I couldn’t believe those guys were outside the bus. Our trainer, Doug Leavins, was looking at those kids and there was nothing there,” Frey says, and there is anguish in his eyes.
While Frey lost a nephew in the accident, he also lost Chris Mantyka, who he says was “one of my favourites.” He remembers Mantyka, who had spent 1985–86 with the junior A Swift Current Indians, coming into the Broncos’ office over the summer.
“He comes in … he’s this big hulking kid who played junior A there the year before,” Frey says with a chuckle. “He says to me, his head’s down, ‘Lorne, can I try out this year?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We kept him, and after that every time I came in the room he’d give me a big hug and it’d be, ‘Gee it’s great, thanks for keeping me.’ He was just a great kid.
“We’d practise and get him working with the younger guys because the older guys were on the power play and stuff. The younger guys were afraid of him. I’d say, ‘Chris, Chris, you gotta lay off these guys a little bit. Just relax.’ He’d come back with, ‘But, Lorne, I’ve gotta get better, too.’ ‘Yeah,’ I’d say, ‘but you don’t have to beat them up.’”
Frey says Mantyka played the game for keeps and he didn’t pick his spots, not even in practice. Frey remembers Mantyka fighting Ian Herbers, a towering defenceman, in one practice, and going with team captain Kurt Lackten in another. After the fight with Lackten, Frey says, Graham James wanted to get rid of Mantyka. Frey talked James out of that, and a month into the season, a laughing Frey says, Mantyka was one of James’s favourites, too.
Frey has been around the WHL for a long time. He has taken many bus trips since the accident, but it wasn’t until early in the 2010–11 season that he was able to put his head back, close his eyes, and actually sleep.
“Lornie has had a tough time of it,” says Bruce Hamilton, the president and general manager of the Rockets. “But I finally saw him sleeping on the bus when we were coming back from a game in Vancouver.” That was after an exhibition game prior to the 2010–11 season, almost twenty-four years after the accident.
Frey is quite content to work like most scouts: in the background, well away from the glare of the spotlight. During the run to the 1989 Memorial Cup and in the media glow afterward, it was Graham James who got a lot of the attention.
In a brief conversation in April 2009, James talked about how Frey was such an integral part of the Broncos.
Darren Kruger with wife, Beverly, and daughter, Emily.
Courtesy of Darren Kruger.
“Lorne … was much underappreciated for the players he contributed to the team. The Krugers and Tisdale … a lot of guys he stuck with,” James said. For example, the Broncos already had a smallish defenceman in Danny Lambert, who was a brilliant puck-mover. So did they really have room on the roster for another defenceman from the same mould?
“Darren Kruger was unbelievable,” James said. “We had Lambert and I’m thinking, Can we afford another guy who is five-foot-six on the
Leesa Culp and Lorne Frey at the 2009 Swift Current Broncos Hall of Fame induction dinner honouring the 1989 Memorial Cup–winning team
Rod Steensland.
team? Lorne pushed me and pushed me on Kruger. He turned out to be a huge difference-maker for the Broncos and one of the best guys I ever coached. And the same with Trevor.”
Like Frey, Trevor Kruger doesn’t get nearly the credit he should for the success the Broncos had in 1988–89. Remember that this was in the days before hockey’s deep thinkers decided to put trapezoids behind the goals and restrict goaltenders to handling the puck only in that area. Back in the day, teams that played a quick transition game needed a puck-handling goaltender. Kruger was just that for the Broncos. He would pick up a dumped-in puck and get it to one of his defencemen quicker than you could blink. It was only a coincidence that the Krugers were also Frey’s nephews.
“Lornie Frey, I’ve known him since the days he was working with Jackie McLeod in Saskatoon, and he’s still finding players,” James said. “That’s a helluva career.”
One of the keys to Frey’s success, according to James, is that he is his own man. “Lorne never played the political game, never kissed anybody’s ass to get ahead,” James said. “He is just who he is and who he is is very good. He was never a guy who wanted to play that game. And he never will. He could scout for any pro team.”
After winning the 1989 Memorial Cup, the Broncos would win the WHL’s 1992–93 championship. By then, Frey was with the Tacoma Rockets, the predecessor to the Kelowna Rockets, as alternate governor, assistant general manager, and director of player personnel. Bruce Franklin, now a scout with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, was then the Broncos’ director of player personnel.
“When I look back, we were fortunate in Swift Current,” James said. “We had Lornie, who really knew the league. We had Bruce Franklin, who came in and did a good job. Then we had Paul Charles, who was outstanding. That’s what it’s all about.”
The Broncos of that era were proof that in junior hockey, if you don’t have good scouts, you don’t have success.
CHAPTER 13
Just an Ordinary Joe
There isn’t much doubt about who was the best player on the 1986–87 Swift Current Broncos. That would be Joe Sakic, the quiet, unassuming, soon-to-be superstar who put up 133 points as a rookie the season the bus crashed. For that, he was named the East Division’s rookie of the year.
Sakic would play only one more season in Swift Current — he put up 160 points in 1987–88 — so he wasn’t part of the team that won the 1989 Memorial Cup. The Quebec Nordiques selected him with the fifteenth pick of the NHL’s 1987 draft. He was on his way to a sixty-two-point rookie NHL season when the Broncos were on the road to winning the Memorial Cup.
Sakic was born July 7, 1969, to Marijan and Slavica Sakic, Croatian immigrants who had settled in Burnaby, British Columbia. Growing up as the son of immigrants, Sakic developed a strong work ethic, and it was that, along with an abundance of skill, more on-ice patience than any player should have, and an ability to see the ice and read the play, that helped him carve out quite a niche in the NHL.
“We never had it easy growing up,” Sakic told Larry Wigge of The Sporting News for a January 2002 story. “Dad worked for everything we had. He never let me off the hook. In hockey it was the same thing: ‘Get out there and work.’
“Even today, after a bad game, there are times when I won’t answer the phone. I know who it is. Even though I’m all grown up, I know it’s my dad calling to tell me he had seen the game, and he’s going to tell me I didn’t work hard enough.”
By the time Sakic retired after the 2008–09 season, he had recorded 1,641 points in the NHL, including 625 goals, in 1,378 regular-season games. He also was one of those rarities in today’s game — a one-organization man. He had been drafted by the Nordiques and made the move to Denver over the summer of 1995 when the Quebec franchise became the Colorado Avalanche.
In fact, he played for only two organizations in his career, from major junior through his NHL days.
Sakic began his WHL career with the Lethbridge Broncos — he was pointless in three games with them in 1985–86 — and was one of the players who at first wasn’t interested in moving when the franchise was sold to Swift Current interests.
But move he did, and he wound up playing a starring role in Swift Current. In his second and final season there, he finished with 160 points, including seventy-eight goals, in sixty-four games. He ended up tied atop the WHL scoring race with Theoren Fleury of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who also had 160 points. Sakic was given the scoring championship on the basis of having scored more goals than Fleury, 78–68.
Sakic rarely has spoken publicly about the bus accident. He and frequent linemate Sheldon Kennedy were seated near the front of the bus, chatting about the Christmas each had experienced. In 2002, Sakic told Wigge, “Clearly, you grow up in a hurry after something like that. It changes your whole outlook on li
fe and makes you appreciate what you have even more. That matured us all, I think.”
When interviewed by Brian Costello of The Hockey News for a story that appeared in the December 27, 1996, issue, Sakic said, “You never forget that day. It makes you realize that it could end at any time for anybody. Sometimes when I drive around, I think about it. It makes you careful.”
Sakic told writer Debbie Elicksen, “The best thing was during practices and games — that was the best time to get away. You just focused on hockey.
Trevor Kruger (left), Peter Soberlak, Bob Wilkie, Sheldon Kennedy, Chris Larkin, and Darren Kruger get ready for a round of golf the day following the twenty-year reunion dinner for the team that won the 1989 Memorial Cup.
Courtesy of Leesa Culp.
“It was the first time a tragedy happened in my life. Kind of reality checks in. You’re a little more careful about the things you decide to do. You weigh the options, I guess.”
Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail spoke with Sakic in February 2008. “It’s tough,” Sakic told MacGregor. “You can’t believe what happened. You just don’t believe it. It’s tough to think about it and it’s something you never forget. You want to overcome it all, but these are your friends. You can’t forget. You don’t want to forget. All you know for sure is that, in time, things will get better.”
When writer Gare Joyce was researching a story that would appear on www.ESPN.com, Sakic agreed to talk to him. But, according to Joyce’s story, only “on the condition that no questions would be asked about the details of the crash.”
When the authors of this book requested an interview with Sakic through his agent, Don Baizley, the NHL star chose to take a pass.
“He is a class act and always has been … a future Hall of Famer, a Stanley Cup champion, and a gold-medal winner in the Olympics,” former teammate Bob Wilkie says of Sakic. “He was a blast to play with and to watch and he was a huge part of the success we had over the two seasons.… He was a quiet guy who never really said much. His actions spoke louder than words.”
Peter Soberlak, who was traded to the Broncos by the Kamloops Blazers early in the 1986–87 season, frequently played on a line with Sakic. Soberlak says that Joe has always been, well, Joe.
“He is absolutely a good guy,” Soberlak says. “He has never changed.”
Because Sakic was in the NHL when the Swift Current team won the 1989 Memorial Cup, he wasn’t officially a part of the 1989 reunion celebration that was held in Swift Current in August 2009. That doesn’t mean Sakic wasn’t there, though. His wife, Debbie, is from Swift Current, so they and their three children are frequent visitors to the city. Whether by coincidence or good management, the Sakics were there when the 1988–89 team was holding its twentieth anniversary celebration. Part of the celebration involved a golf tournament.
“Myself, Sheldon [Kennedy], Danny [Lambert], and Wilkie were in the last foursome,” Soberlak says, adding that Sakic made a non-playing appearance early in the proceedings. “He drove around with us from the third hole on.… It was like we were seventeen again. He was just Joe.” It didn’t matter, Soberlak says, that Sakic had made “$100 million or something like that” in his career. He was just Joe.
“Sheldon was giving it to him about his dogs and stuff,” Soberlak says. “And it wasn’t long before it was just, ‘Ah, shut up Sakic.’
“He really was just Joe.”
CHAPTER 14
The Coroner’s Report
It wasn’t long after the accident involving the Swift Current Broncos’ bus that Swift Current coroner d’Arcy Morrice called an inquest into the tragedy. At the same time, the Swift Current Sun reported on January 12, 1987, that the vehicle standards and inspection department of Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) was also going to investigate the accident.
By February 9, Morrice had completed his report, in which he made four recommendations:
Teams should allot more time for travel when weather is inclement;
The WHL should encourage teams to postpone or cancel road trips should weather conditions result in dangerous driving conditions;
Teams should use buses that feature some form of restraining devices, and should enforce the usage of such devices; and
The province of Saskatchewan should enact legislation requiring buses carrying teams within the province to be equipped with adequate restraining devices, and the use of these devices should be enforced.
According to Morrice’s report, the Broncos’ bus had been in good operating condition. No charges were ever laid.
Morrice also released the cause of death for the four deceased players. They had been seated in the back of the bus, in pairs across from each other while playing cards.
Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, and Brent Ruff died due to dislocation of the cervical spine. They had been thrown upwards, and their heads had hit the roof of the bus. Chris Mantyka died of traumatic asphyxia — he was crushed after he somehow ended up under the bus.
Immediately following the accident, the Swift Current Sun printed a list of survivors. That list included twenty-four names — six adults and eighteen players. While researching this book, it was learned that one of the people whose name was on the list — goaltender Bob Crockett — had not been on the bus. Here is the list, as it appeared in the Sun:
Adults:
Graham James, general manager and coach
Lorne Frey, assistant coach
John Foster, public relations director
Dave Archibald, bus driver
Doug Leavins, assistant trainer
Brian Costello, Swift Current Sun sports writer
Players:
Ed Brost, defence, 19
Gord Green, defence, 19
Ian Herbers, defence, 19
Sheldon Kennedy, forward, 17
Tim Tisdale, forward, 18
Joe Sakic, forward, 17
Pat Nogier, goal, 18
Clarke Polglase, defence, 17
Bob Wilkie, defence, 17
Kurt Lackten, forward/captain, 19
Tracy Egeland, forward, 16
Trevor Kruger, goal, 18
Peter Soberlak, forward, 17
Lonnie Spink, forward, 19
Jason Proulx, defence, 18
Artie Feher, goal, 20
Bob Crockett, goal, 16
Todd Sceviour, forward, 19
CHAPTER 15
Back on the Ice
It was an emotionally exhausted group of Swift Current Broncos who returned to the ice following the January 4 memorial service honouring the four players who had been killed in the crash of the team’s bus.
The surviving players’ heads were spinning with all that had transpired since the accident on the afternoon of December 30. But they knew they had to get on with their lives.
The Broncos had missed four games, but they would make those up as the season progressed. In the meantime, their first game post-accident was scheduled for January 9 in Moose Jaw against the Warriors.
Obviously, most of the players were still nursing bumps and bruises to one degree or another. Defenceman Bob Wilkie’s right hip, which originally was thought to have been broken, wasn’t, but it was stiff, and his face still showed evidence of having been banged around.
Forward Kurt Lackten, the team captain, was nursing tender ribs. Peter Soberlak, another forward, had a sore shoulder. And on and on.…
Meanwhile, Graham James had been busy working the phones because his roster had been left with four holes — the spots that had belonged to the players who had died in the crash.
“It’s a very difficult situation where things are not clear cut,” James told the Swift Current Sun. “You can’t look in the phone book and find ‘dial-a-tragedy’ because nobody really has the answers.
“We’re going to try and stick with the players on our list and help ourselves. I don’t want to downplay the assistance of other teams, but the players offered to us would have to go back next [season] or simply be borderline pl
ayers. By reaching into our own list, we can develop better as a team. And you don’t want to bring strange players into a difficult situation like this, have them help you and then shake their hand goodbye two weeks later. How can you do that? How can you even cut a player who had to go through this?”
In the days immediately after the accident, the WHL developed a plan whereby each of the league’s other thirteen teams would offer up one player. A list of those players would be compiled and the Broncos then would choose two or three of them.
Erin Ginnell, who had played with the junior A Swift Current Indians the previous season, and Swift Current native Garth Lamb were the chosen two. Ginnell, one of coaching legend Pat Ginnell’s sons, already had played that season with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Regina Pats. Lamb had been with the Victoria Cougars.
(Erin Ginnell, today a scout for the NHL’s Florida Panthers, is convinced that the Pats offered him to the Broncos fully expecting to hear, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Ginnell’s theory is that the Pats, knowing full well the animosity between John Rittinger and Ginnell’s father — animosity that had developed while both men pursued a WHL franchise for Swift Current — expected the Broncos to turn down their offer of help. The Broncos, however, were glad to welcome the younger Ginnell aboard.)
James was also able to acquire some other help. He got left-winger Blair Atcheynum, a seventeen-year-old who had asked the Saskatoon Blades for a trade. Later, James would deal him to Moose Jaw for veteran defenceman Tim Logan.
Right-winger David Aldred, a sixteen-year-old who had been playing junior A in Grande Prairie, Alberta, was brought in and put right onto a line with Joe Sakic and Sheldon Kennedy. Another right winger, Terry Baustad, who had played in Moose Jaw and Calgary, also was added.