NHLer and former Kitchener Rangers staff member race to game on foot

Hockey player hoofs it to Wild game Fans captured the moment an NHLer and former Rangers staff member walked through a snowstorm to their game. Tyler Kelaher has the story.

Sitting in the back seat of the vehicle taking him to the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, all NHLer Travis Boyd could see was snow and bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Boyd had just been called up from the American Hockey League and penciled into the Minnesota Wild lineup for Saturday’s afternoon game against the Flames.

It was a dream come true for the Hopkins, Minnesota-native, who grew up watching the team.

“I’d be surprised if there was a Minnesota kid who didn’t grow up cheering for the Wild,” Boyd said.

After getting the news on Friday, Boyd jumped on a plane from Grand Rapids to Detroit, and then a second flight to Toronto. He landed in Calgary the next day, just a couple hours before the 2 p.m. puck drop.

“That was the first time I realized we were landing in a huge snowstorm,” Boyd told CTV News.

Waiting for him at the airport was Dominic Hennig, the team’s services manager, with a car service ready to take them to the rink. They got within a few blocks of the Scotiabank Saddledome when traffic came to a stand-still.

Then Hennig had an idea.

“We have about 23 minutes here for you to get ready, get your suit off. We need to start walking,” he told Boyd.

With Boyd carrying his hockey bag and Hennig throwing a bundle of hockey sticks over his shoulder, the duo trekked three blocks past waving fans and honking cars, arriving just in time for on-ice warmups.

“I think I made it out there like 30 seconds late but got out there and got the warmup in,” Boyd remembered.

Passersby captured the unplanned journey through the snow, posting to social media:

“[Boyd] had a hockey bag on, running in dress shoes with no socks in snow and I had 20 sticks in my hand for him,” Hennig later told CTV News.

This is Hennig’s first season with the Wild after previously working in the American Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League. For the 2022-2023 season, he was the senior director of hockey operations for the Kitchener Rangers.

Three current Rangers are currently on the team along with Hennig – Matthew Andonovski, Trent Swick and Adrian Misaljevic.

“[The video] reminds me of 6 a.m. practices when there’s a snowstorm and having to rush out the door, getting stuck in the snow,” Swick told CTV News after Tuesday’s practice.

Those who knew Hennig said the video showed the lengths he was willing go to support his players.

“That’s just Dom as a person,” Andonovski explained. “He would do anything for us when he was here in Kitchener.”

“He’ll do anything for his team, whether it’s the players or staff,” said Joe Birch, the Rangers’ chief operating officer and governor. “If it’s in the middle of snowstorm, rainstorm, hurricane, it doesn’t matter.

Looking back at his time in Kitchener, Hennig said it was a time he and his family will never forget.

“My wife and I do talk about our time in Kitchener-Waterloo almost weekly and how we love the people there, and just how good of an organization the Kitchener Rangers are,” he said.

Boyd played 8:23 minutes in his Wild debut and remains with the big club ahead of Wednesday’s road game against the Buffalo Sabres.

The 31-year-old forward said playing for his hometown team is a memory that’ll last a lifetime, and also, the way he got there.

“We have this kind of special bond now going through this thing together,” Boyd said. “Sure we’ll be talking [about it] for the rest of our lives.”

“Knowing that moment was a moment of a lifetime, being able to recognize that on that walk through the fan’s cars, that’s something I’ll never forget,” Hennig promised.