Giants Kannok Leipert mourns a buddy
Former defence partner in Midget triple-A was one of 15 killed in deadly Saskatchewan bus crash
Alex Kannok Leipert’s four little words were like a punch in a gut.
“He didn’t make it,” the Vancouver Giants rookie rearguard said Saturday.
Kannok Leipert, 17, was talking about the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash Friday and Adam Herold, who had been Kannok Leipert’s teammate and frequent defence parter last season with the Regina Pats Canadians, one of the top teams in the Saskatchewan Midget triple-A league.
Herold was one of the 15 people killed after the team bus and a semitruck collided just outside Tisdale, Sask.
Herold had spent most of this season in midgets, with the Pats. He had been called up by Humboldt for the playoffs.
He was 16.
“He was one of my good buddies,” said Kannok Leipert, a Regina native. “I had played against a lot of the other guys on the team growing up. … It’s hard. It’s an awful situation. It’s really, really sad.”
The Giants’ season ended this past week, losing out in the first round of the playoffs to the Victoria Royals. Kannok Leipert and his teammates will return in the fall, and in September they will file back onto a bus for their first road game of the year.
“Honestly, you don’t think about it. If you worry about what could happen on a road trip, you couldn’t make it through the whole year.”
It will undoubtedly be easier to say than it is to do, especially now.
“I’ve been reading everything on Facebook. I’ve been reading every article I can find,” said Derek Holloway, who has been the Vancouver Giants’ bus driver since they joined the WHL for the 2001-02 season. “It all brings tears to your eyes.”
Holloway received texts from former Giants Saturday morning, thanking him for all the “safe miles,” over the years. A mother of one of the players let him know that she simply would not let him think about retiring from the gig as long as her son was on the team.
The Giants honoured Holloway this season for driving the team to 600 road games. He got into the bus business after retiring as a police officer.
He comes off as a preparation nut. You talk to him at a game, he’s forever checking weather websites and road reports. He says that the Giants owners, led by Ron Toigo, have given him full control on trips. If he’s not comfortable, stay another night. He says he’s put that into practice a handful of times during his tenure with the team.
“This one hits hard. Being a policeman, I went to a lot of tragedies. But I know what kids are like on the bus. I know the fun they’re having. And then, in one second, everything is gone,” Holloway said.
Kannok Leipert added: “Guys like Derek and the other bus drivers are the most important people in our league.”
Chilliwack Chiefs coach Jason Tatarnic was guiding the Woodstock Slammers when the bus carrying the junior A New Brunswick team went off the road and rolled into a ditch on their way to Prince Edward Island in 2007.
Before Tatarnic was with Chilliwack and Woodstock he was with Humboldt, serving as an assistant coach in the 2004-05 season.
“What’s happened there is awful, and it’s even magnified, being in such a small town,” said Tatarnic. “In a town of 5,000 to 7,000 people, you are always around. You are involved all over.
“There’s such a history there and the Broncos have always also managed to have local kids on their team. The Broncos are a big, big part of their community.
“What has happened there is devastating and it’s tragic. It’s going to take a long time.”
And, as for the idea of road trips, Tatarnic admitted: “It (the Woodstock crash) opened our eyes. We’re even more cautious on travel now. It’s always in the back of your mind.”
Humboldt was front and centre in the hockey world Saturday. Montreal Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher, a former Giants star, said that the Habs were going to make a donation to the Broncos and hoped that other NHL clubs would follow suit.
“It doesn’t matter what you level you played … the bus trips are always some of the better memories,” said Gallagher. “You never imagine having to deal with what those kids and their family and friends are going through.”
San Jose Sharks winger Evander Kane, another former Giants standout, echoed the thoughts of the so many when he talked about how his “thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends this is going to affect.”
Kane, an East Vancouver product who starred in bantam at North Shore Winter Club, added: “I was lucky enough to play all over Western Canada growing up. I been to a lot of smaller communities. I’ve seen the love of hockey, I’ve seen the importance of hockey. This is a tragedy.”