Turris shares OT joy with Condors hockey program
Kyle Turris was Saturday’s hero, but not long after he got the chance to celebrate with his teammates, he went to spend time with a group of close friends.
Instead of heading home after scoring the winner in Game 5 against the New York Rangers, Turris, his wife Julie and son Beckett went to the Capital City Condors’ end-of-season banquet at a Kanata hotel to wish them well and show support to a group of people that are close to the couple’s hearts.
The Condors are a hockey team for those who have a developmental disability that “won’t allow them to play hockey anywhere else.” Turris has lent his name to the cause as an honorary captain, while he and Julie, who is on the board of directors, both volunteer whenever possible to spend time with the kids.
Turris doesn’t do it for the attention. He does it because he enjoys being around the participants and if Turris and his family have the chance to make a difference in someone’s life, they’re going to take it.
After an optional skate at Madison Square Garden, he told reporters he was going to stop there regardless of Saturday’s outcome.
“They’re such an amazing group of kids and families. We love spending time with them,” Turris, a father of two, said Monday. “We were going to the banquet win or lose or goal or no goal, so I don’t think it was that big of a thing.
“But all the attention the Condors can get, they deserve, because they’re such an amazing group and Julie and I are lucky to be involved with them.”
Though Turris can’t always be with the Condors when they’re on the ice Saturdays during the winter — because the Senators are usually playing — they get there as often as possible.
He has a hard time putting into words why the Condors mean so much to them.
“It’s something you can’t really explain,” said Turris. “It’s something you have to experience yourself. Just the love that surrounds everybody at the rink. The atmosphere when you’re there is incredible. It’s really neat.”
Turris said these kids play because they love the game and they’re just excited to be at the rink, which is why it’s so enjoyable to be around them.
“There’s just genuine happiness when you’re in the arena,” Turris said. “They’re just so happy to be playing hockey and doing something that other friends can do that they didn’t have the opportunity to do before and this gives them the opportunity.
“When a person scores on our team, the other team comes over and bear hugs them as well. It’s things like that which make it really special and you have to experience because it’s hard to explain.”
Turris is going to remember being surrounded by his teammates and the reaction of the crowd when he fired the winner by New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist to give the Senators a 3-2 lead in the series and push the Rangers to the brink of elimination.
But he had two celebrations that night and the second was very touching when he entered the banquet hall.
“It was unbelievable because it was another part of that night I won’t forget,” Turris said. “Julie, Beckett and I walked into the banquet hall — and there had to be couple of hundred people anyways — and all the kids come running at us and just bear hug us.
“There were 30 or 40 kids. It’s just something that you won’t forget.”
A reporter noted to Turris that he was “exhausted” Saturday after the game, but nothing was going to keep him away from spending time with the Condors.
“Just because you played a game or scored a goal, I don’t think you don’t attend commitments you have or especially ones that Julie and I are more excited about,” said Turris. “It’s something that we were going to win or lose, goal or no goal. It just happened to work out real well that I scored and everybody was happy.”
Yes, Turris made everybody’s day.