Green Shirt Day puts focus on Broncos, organ donation for ex-Canuck Dorsett
Derek Dorsett has The former Vancouver Canucks winger awaits shoulder surgery because continuing pain radiates to his neck and has persisted since being forced to end his career in November 2017.
It matches the mental anguish that didn’t dissipate after he was forced to leave a game he still loves.
Dorsett and his wife, Allison, also have three young children to engage, entertain and educate amid the COVID19 pandemic. The trio includes Ethan, who broke his collarbone challenges. jumping off a Bouncy House before hockey started this season, so there’s that.
And there’s a second house in Columbus, Ohio, that they’re trying to renovate. So many concerns and so much uncertainty.
However, Dorsett will count his blessings Tuesday.
The Kindersley, Sask., native will don a Humboldt Broncos T-shirt in concert with the Green Shirt Day initiative to promote organ-donation registration.
On April 6, 2018, Logan Boulet was one of 15 players and personnel who died in a bus crash as the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League club travelled to a playoff game.
In a selfless legacy labelled “The Logan Boulet Effect’,” more than 100,000 Canadians became organ donors after the tragedy. Boulet had expressed to his parents that he wanted to be an organ donor — he signed a card just weeks before his death — and his organs have saved the lives of six people awaiting transplants.
And, because of COVID-19, this year’s donor campaign will take registrations at humboldtbroncos.com.
“That horrific crash was an eye-opener and a very sad day in the hockey world,” the 33-year-old Dorsett said Monday from Columbus.
“It changed a lot of people’s lives forever and it’s been a hard road for a lot of people in the Humboldt community, but we’ve got to live life to the fullest. It makes you realize the things that are important. When there’s tragedy — and even the pandemic — people are going to stick together and find ways through tough times. The Humboldt crash brought a lot of people together and this pandemic is doing the same thing. You have to find a way to get through it.
“Maybe because the news is so much focused toward the pandemic, you don’t hear as much about violence and killing and hatred. People are being respectful of each other and space.”
Dorsett was born in Kindersley — population 4,597 — and had already known tragedy. Town residents were devastated Dec. 30, 1986, when the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos were bound for Regina and their bus struck a patch of black ice. It went airborne and the crash claimed the lives of players Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff.
It’s why the Humboldt tragedy hit Dorsett hard the following morning in 2018 at a solemn game-day skate at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
“Obviously, I’m at a loss for words,” said Dorsett, who had been asked to witness a final salute to the retiring Henrik and Daniel Sedin. “We were at the dinner last night and found out and it (room) went silent. It shows how big the hockey community is and how it affects everyone.
“I can’t even imagine what the players, their families, the town of Humboldt and the province of Saskatchewan and even further on are feeling. It’s the most terrible thing that can happen. I played a lot of minor hockey in Humboldt. It’s a small province but great people and I know the hockey community will rally around and support them as much as we can.”
Those hardest-hit had connections to the Humboldt team and the town and those born in Saskatchewan.
Canucks defenceman Ashton Sautner is from tiny Flaxcombe — population 111 — and his uncle, Kevin Garinger, was president of the Broncos at the time, but wasn’t on the bus. He has since stepped down from the demanding position.
Sautner’s father coached in the SJHL and the ties the family has with the game and the province made the tragedy even harder to stomach.
“It’s very tough news,” said Sautner. “My cousin was good friends with the assistant coach. My uncle had to go back and make a statement. The bus is where you feel safe and you spend a lot of time on it when you play junior hockey.
I thought I’d be a guy ... that it would be easier for me to jump into the real world and adapt. It wasn’t.”
Derek Dorsett
“It’s supposed to be a fun time. But when something like this happens, it’s terrible. Hockey means everything there. My hometown is Kindersley where I spend my summers. They support their teams and the fans are very passionate.”
Fast forward and Dorsett is giving COVID-19 support to his children — sons Dylan, 5, Ethan, 4, and daughter Emmie, 19 months — and in need of some support himself to get through the tough transition from the NHL, especially after seven goals through 20 games in 2017-18.
On the home front, the COVID-19 challenges are obvious.
“Chasing kids and trying to figure out what’s next,” said Dorsett. “It’s been a little challenging with school and daycare and trying to keep them busy throughout the day because they’re at different stages — they all pull you in different ways — but we’re just like anyone else would be.
“It’s a crazy world we’re living in right now. I leave the home-schooling to my wife. We’re playing a lot of sports and mini-sticks and trying to get the oldest (Dylan) to ride (his bike) without training wheels. And I don’t know the last time I sat down on the couch and there wasn’t a kids’ show on.
“We’re pretty good with how much TV they can watch and they don’t have iPads. We try to keep them busy with colouring, being active outside and biking.”
Yet, in reality, Dorsett doesn’t need more home time with the family. Unlike former NHL teammates, who pine for time because of the demands of being a pro athlete, he has had nothing but time since he had to hang up his skates.
Dorsett practised for 10 minutes in Philadelphia on Nov. 20, 2017, and Canucks coach Travis Green said the winger had told him that there was no particular incident that caused discomfort. Dorsett had fought twice that season — accumulating two instigator penalties and one shy of a two-game suspension — and also had 39 hits to go with his surprising start.
Dorsett was a seventhround pick in 2009 by Columbus. The pugnacious plugger was on pace to easily eclipse a career-high 12 goals with the Blue Jackets in the 2011-12 season. He finished his career with 127 points (51-76) and 1,314 penalty minutes in 515 regular-season games. He also appeared in 43 playoff games.
When Dorsett’s neck region was evaluated in early November in Los Angeles, the prognosis was mind-numbing. He had sustained a cervical disc herniation adjacent and separate to his previous fusion and was advised to stop playing. Not for a week or month. Forever. The news hit the feisty winger like a punch to the face.
He would do anything to will his team to victory, but could only be a cheerleader after being permanently sent to the sidelines.
On Monday, Dorsett still sounded like he hasn’t totally healed from the departure.
“It has been a hard transition, harder than I thought it was going to be,” admitted Dorsett, who had 54 points (20-34) and 694 penalty minutes in 235 regular-season Canuck games over four seasons. “I thought I’d be a guy — because I had other interests outside of hockey — that it would be easier for me to jump into the real world and adapt. It wasn’t.”
Dorsett has been job-shadowing with Columbus-based Vision Development because of a long-standing interest in real estate. It has helped filled that competitive void.
“It’s given me a purpose to wake up and get a routine and be part of a team again,” he added. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve missed. I do miss hockey. The first (retirement) year, I thought I’d jump in and be involved in some sort of way, but it was hard to get up and watch games without being emotional and sad.
“Last year during the playoffs, I started getting to the point of watching and getting that fire again.
“So, it (hockey) isn’t something I’ve closed the door on and I’d like to get involved in some shape or form.
“There are such good people in the game and that’s what I’ve missed about it. I don’t know what I’d do, but I feel that I know the game in and out and could be of use somewhere for sure.”
For now, that knowing is encouraging Dylan to not give up on the game and rekindle his interest. It has turned the father into a coach.
“We practise at the house non-stop and he has caught on pretty well,” chucked Dorsett. “He can boogie out there.”
As for where the NHL goes with its season on pause, and heightened concerns over health, several scenarios are being considered to salvage the season in some manner.
However, as self-isolation and social-distancing measures increase, Dorsett finds it hard to comprehend playing before a COVID-19 vaccine is produced and distributed. The league could lose US$1billion in revenue if the season is scuttled, and players would financially suffer with escrow salary clawback that could reach 30 per cent.
“Obviously, you’ve got to worry about the safety of the players and fans first,” Dorsett stressed. “I don’t know how I’d feel about playing in empty arenas. They shouldn’t do anything that might jeopardize the health of anybody.
“And escrow is already through the roof and they (owners) are going to have to work something out with revenue sharing. I’m not going to show up to work and not be paid what I’m worth.”