Fancy stick work saves skater from river plunge

A man from Rothesay, N.B. is thanking his skating friend, and his hockey stick for a dramatic rescue on the weekend.

James Simonds and Steve Palmer were going for their annual skate around Long Island, on the Kennebecasis River.

The pair are seasoned skaters, and knew to wait for a weekend after a long, cold stretch to make sure the river ice was fully frozen.

Simonds thought he'd picked a good day until, well into the trip, the ice gave way.

"It happened very suddenly, we had probably skated about an hour and a half, and the ice was great for miles," Simonds told Maritime Noon's Norma Lee MacLeod. "And right out of the blue, it was like falling into an abyss, I just went right straight into the water. It went from ice that was probably six inches deep to ice that was two millimetres deep."

Simonds described it as normally an excellent skate with beautiful scenery, that takes between four and five hours.

Both men knew enough to come prepared in case of emergency each was carrying a hockey stick, but at first that didn't help.

Hooked hockey sticks

"My hockey stick actually was horizontal, and both ends of it caught each side of the ice, so I went in about neck-deep," said Simonds. "I instinctively tried to pull myself up but the ice kept breaking away from me. I tried about three times to do that."

Luckily his friend Steve Palmer was about 100 yards behind, he estimated, and hadn't gone through the ice as well.

"He stopped at a safe distance away and basically got on his stomach and shimmied his way towards me," said Simonds.

That's when the hockey sticks really came into play.

"He got to a stick-length away from me, and he held it out with the stick blade pointing up, and I basically put my stick on it perpendicularly and hooked it on. Then he said, 'James, kick you feet as hard as you possibly can, and I'll pull you at the same time, and we'll try to pull you out.' And I did that, and I got right out."

They had to skate several kilometres back to their starting point, the Rothesay Yacht Club, where Palmer's car was parked.

Simonds was so intent on making it to safety, he didn't even feel cold until he sat down upon their return, soaked and shivering.

Preparation important

The pair had also brought along rope, cellphones and a lighter to make a fire if needed, as well as those trusty hockey sticks.

"Be prepared, and I guess, prepared for the worse. Anything can happen," said Simonds.

He's ready to go on the skate again next year, he said, but he may wait for even colder weather. He thinks it was bad luck, running into one lone thin spot of ice.