January 18th, 2020
North Saanich, B.C.
Andrew Rocha's journey to the Peninsula Panthers was so incredible that GM Pete Zubersky asked that he put a detailed account to paper. Readers should pour a coffee and sit down for what is his version of events that played out from January 3rd when Rocha and Zubersky first spoke, to Monday evening January 6th when Rocha finally arrived at the Panorama Recreation Centre for practice. Hockey players in this country have incredible courage, character and determination and Rocha seems to fit into every single one of these categories. Enjoy!
Account by Andrew Rocha:
My journey to the Panthers began on January 3rd when I was unexpectedly released from my Junior A Club back home in Ontario. The team had a goalie come back from the QMJHL and since this was my last year of Junior, it didn't make sense for the team to keep me over two younger goalies who could come back the following season. It was time for me to search for a new club in need of a goalie. Understanding what needed to be done, I started researching teams and calling around. After realizing that there wasn't much hope in finding a Junior team in Ontario due to there being only a week to the Carding deadline, I extended my search outside of the province. I contacted a former teammate, Zach Trempner, who was originally from the Campbell River Storm. He shared a lot of information about Leagues in Western Canada, as well as some potential teams he knew of that might be looking for a goalie. Although I had the names of some teams in both the VIJHL and KIJHL, I didn't have any telephone numbers, which would be required if I was going to get a deal done quickly.
Having some close relatives in Nanaimo, I contacted the Buccaneers. Again, it was easy to find an email but a little more challenging to find a phone number. Looking through the site, I was excited to find a recruiting brochure with the owner's phone number. Clayton Robinson was very nice, but he was not in search of a goalie. He did, however, give me a list of teams in the league that might be looking, which included the Peninsula Panthers. Coincidently, the Panthers were the first team that I was able to find a phone number for and was the first team I called. Pete was really nice, and after talking with him for a few minutes, I realized he was hesitant to take an unknown goalie from Ontario that he had never heard of or watched. I totally understood. I had to try and figure out a way to get him to trust that I did, in fact, know how to play hockey. He agreed to take a closer look and contact some references I provided, and said that he would get back to me later that night. I was surprised by how quickly I got a return call. It wasn't a 100% commitment, but things were looking good.
Later that night I got an email from coach Brad Tippett, with a contract to sign. Although, this still wasn't a guarantee, I was very excited about how things were going. I discussed it with my parents and organized myself to head to BC. I packed my stuff and contacted my uncle, so that if I got confirmation the following afternoon, things would be in place for a smooth trip across the country. The following day, confirmation came! My plan was to leave Friday morning so that I could spend some time with my cousins before heading down to the Peninsula for my first practice with the team on Monday night at 6:45 pm. Even though I had a plan, the universe had a different plan.
Part II
I had finally found a team, after several days of calling and emailing many coaches, general managers, and scouts. I had found a place play! All I had to do now was, get there. No problem! My dad is a pilot with Air Canada, and I get a nice discount when flying standby, which means I only get on the plane if there is an open seat. On Friday, there was a flight out, but we can see the flight loads, and we saw that there was a poor chance of me getting on that flight. Additionally, my mom had been out of town and she wanted to say goodbye to me before I left, so I decided to get some practice so that I would be ready to go for my first practice.
Early Saturday morning, my girlfriend generously offered to drive me, which was very nice considering we had to leave at 4:15 am. A typical northern Ontario winter storm was in full force, so we decided to take the route with as many four lane highways as possible, in order to avoid a potential head-on collision. The roads weren't in the best condition; snow-covered and a little slippery. As we continued along the highway, we reached one of the more "dangerous" parts of the route, an area where there was two-lane traffic with moderately high speed. As we came down a hill, we saw a set of lights in the distance, and as we started to climb out of the valley, the passenger side wheels of the car were sucked into a groove on the side of the road. All of a sudden, the car hit a pothole that abruptly shot the car back onto the road and over into the oncoming lane. Without hesitation, I went to reach for the wheel, but luckily Holly already had it under control, and safely steered us clear of the oncoming truck. Unfortunately, due to the poor road conditions, when we avoided the oncoming truck we slid into a frozen snowbank. The car spun 180 degrees and then became airborne and flipped upside-down into the ditch, neatly between the road and a rock cut. The impact was focused on the front end of the car as well as the windshield. Other than being in a little bit of shock, and hanging upside down by our seat belts, we were both alright. It could have been a lot worse, had we hit the oncoming truck or gone a little further into the rock-cut.
Holly had one of the new Google phones, and tried to use the voice command to call for help. As she said "Hey Google, call 911”, Google replied, "Sorry I didn't quite catch that. Please try again". We laughed at how useless the voice command was in such a critical situation. Luckily, she was able to reach down at her feet to grab the phone and proceeded to dial the area code and 911 by hand. She had to redial - 911 doesn’t need the area code! Realizing we were trapped inside, all we could do was wait for help. After the Police, Fire, and Ambulance arrived they helped clear out the back seat (mostly my hockey bag) and helped us escape out of the rear passenger side of the car. It’s a bit of a challenge, unbuckling the seat belts while hanging upside down in them, but we did figure it out. Miraculously, we were both fine. The paramedics said we were very lucky to be alive. Amazingly, none of my equipment or sticks were damaged either, and the Firefighters even invited me to play hockey with them on Thursdays!
After loading up my gear into the Ambulance, we were brought to the hospital so that we could get double-checked. The accident happened around 4:45 am, we were upside down in our seats till about 5:20, in the Ambulance around 5:25, and at the hospital around 5:40 am. I had originally thought about taking a later flight out of Sudbury but realized I wouldn't have been able to get all the way to BC, so I decided to try again the following morning.
Sunday morning, my Mom drove me to the airport to take the earliest flight out of town. We had originally planned to leave at 6 am again, but that flight ended up being canceled due to poor weather. The next flight was at 9:35 am, but was conditional on the incoming airplane from Toronto being able to land. Looking at the airport, we could hardly see the trees on the other side of the landing strip due to blowing snow. I spoke with the gate agent, they took my hockey bag, I went through security and waited. As I watched the snowplows on the runways, the weather cleared up. Things were looking good that the airplane was going to be able to land, and lucky for me it did, about 90 minutes later than planned. As I waited for the passengers to deplane, I watched my hockey bag sitting on the tarmac. I was excited that after what happened the day before, I was finally going to be able to take this flight out! As it came down to the last few passengers, I saw two unclaimed tickets which meant I should be able to make it. Nope! Both tickets went to other people, and I watched my hockey bag come back into the building. Furthermore, for the next 2 days, all Air Canada flights out of Sudbury to Toronto, were “oversold”. No standby seats.
Luckily, my mom had enough points and was able to book me on a last-minute flight on Porter Airlines, and the next flight was departing in about an hour. The only problem was that this flight didn't go to Pearson Toronto International but instead landed at Toronto Island. I would need to take a ferry, a shuttle and the “UP” train to Mississauga. This wouldn't be a big deal, except that I was carrying a goalie bag, 4 sticks, a backpack and a suitcase full of clothes.
Once my flight was booked I had to grab my hockey bag again, go to the Porter desk, reweigh my baggage and then go back through security. Happily, I boarded the plane with no issues and we began to taxi along the runway. Awesome! All of sudden, just as the plane was supposed to take off, we heard an announcement over the PA: "Attention passengers, unfortunately, we are having trouble rectifying an issue with the door seal and will have to return to the terminal until it can be repaired. We do have a maintenance guy in Sudbury. We apologize for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience.” Two hours later, the plane departed again and flew at a lower altitude, and slower pace, to Toronto.
Once in Toronto, I met some kind people who helped carry my sticks and one of my bags to the ferry. Turns out one of them was also taking a connecting flight at Toronto International Airport, so I followed her to the shuttle. As we were enroute, she was researching the train departure times and we learned that the train was out of service. No problem, a bus was taking over the train route! After purchasing a ticket, we loaded my hockey bag and suitcase into the bottom of the bus and it felt similar to jumping on one of my junior hockey buses….except that there appeared to be too many people for the number of seats on the bus. I realized at this moment I might not actually get to stay on the bus. We were the last two people to not have a seat and there were more people still following behind us. When the bus driver got on and started asking people to get off, I looked up and found 2 handle straps hanging from the ceiling of the bus. I told my new friend to grab on and hope they let us stay on as standing passengers. Fortunately for us, it worked!
The bus ride took approximately 45 minutes, which was a little long considering we were being thrown around each time we hit a turn or a bump. No matter, we were happy to have made it on and be on our way to the airport. Once we arrived, I had a little trouble getting my boarding pass, since I had to explain how I got there and why I wasn't already inside the terminal. In the end, it all worked out, I got my plane ticket and was once again on my way through security. I realized how hungry I was, since I hadn't eaten since early morning. I parted ways with my new friend, got something to eat, and headed to my airport gate. The gate agent informed me that there were no open seats on this flight. Once again, several of us were waiting on the standby list. At the last second, to my relief, they called my name. I was the last person in line and the last to get on the flight.
After settling into my seat, things were finally starting to feel more relaxed. I watched a movie titled "Goalie" which was based on the life of Terry Shawchuk, and then a few sets of stand-up comedy. I looked at the moving map of where the plane was, only to find that we were circling around the Vancouver airport. Although this wasn't totally uncommon, I suspected I might encounter another delay. Sure enough, we soon heard the announcement from the pilot, stating that the weather conditions were poor and that we would have to divert…to Calgary. Although this was a little disappointing, I was happy they made the right decision to put everyone's safety above the rushing of a landing.
After landing in Calgary, I fully expected to sleep in Calgary and then try to take the next flight out to Nanaimo. Just as the passengers were starting to get off the plane, we heard another announcement. The weather in Vancouver had supposedly cleared up, and therefore we would be attempting another landing in Vancouver. After many hours of flying, the wheels finally touched the ground in Vancouver, but too late to catch the connection to Nanaimo. When I got off the plane, the airport was almost empty; only a few gate agents left as well as a couple of flights that hadn't yet departed due to weather. Within 30 minutes there was no one left except me, some maintenance and cleaning people, and fellow airport couch surfers. I found a not so comfy airport chair to settle down for the night. After an uncomfortable and short sleep, I woke up amongst a group of people surrounding me in the airport terminal. When I finally came to, after fading in and out of a drowsy sleep, I got myself up and got some breakfast at Tim Hortons. I got a new boarding pass from a gate agent and was told that my hockey bag had been sent to baggage. So, off I went to get it, and check back in through security. Once I got back into the airport terminal, my flight from Vancouver to Nanaimo was, of course, delayed. Twice. Finally, I took off from Vancouver and landed in Nanaimo where I was picked up by my uncle and my little cousin. I could hardly believe it! We then went to his house where I saw my family and had some food before heading south to the Panorama Recreation Centre in North Saanich. It was a great relief to be greeted by Pete and coach Brad. At long last! What an adventure! This concludes this part of my journey but as this chapter ends, another begins... I'll see you at The Cyclone Taylor Cup.
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