Photo credit: RocketFAN

By Regan Bartel

Shane Curveon's hockey season isn't over

Kelowna Rockets bus driver transporting WHL champions at Memorial Cup

May 19, 2023 | 6:00 AM

It’s the next best thing.

Shane Curveon would love to see his favourite team competing next week at the 2023 KIA Memorial Cup in Kamloops.

Unfortunately, the Kelowna Rockets season ended 44 days ago in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Curveon has been asked to be the bus driver for the Western Hockey League champions, whether that be Seattle or the Winnipeg Ice when the puck drops a week from today at Sandman Centre.

The T-Birds currently lead the WHL final series three games to one, with game five tonight at ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.

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“It was nice to be asked if I would do it”, Curveon told RocketFAN. “It is nice to be recognized and be a part of the Memorial Cup operation. The owner of Thompson Valley Charters [Roger Nadeau] said he wanted hockey guys for the Memorial Cup, or bus drivers that know how hockey teams work.”

Curveon is one of four bus drivers shuttling the coaching staff and players around at the Memorial Cup. Even the host Blazers will stay in a hotel, where a bus service is needed to chauffeur them around.

“My day will be at the teams’ beck and call,” Curveon added. When they want to go somewhere [games, practice, sightseeing] I will be there. I will have a bus that is devoted to that team.”

While Curveon has a clear passion for driving a bus, a close second is his love for the game of hockey.

“I will stick around and watch the games”, Curveon said without hesitation. “I have watched a lot of these guys play.”

If the T-Birds indeed win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champs, will Curveon give them a friendly jab or two for ending the Rockets season back on April 5th?

“I wouldn’t want to piss them off”, Curveon said with a chuckle. “I may give them a little ribbing, saying well I have to haul you guys around, even though you knocked out my Rockets.

“I would have been ecstatic if the Rockets would have made it to the Memorial Cup”, Curveon continued. “In the next few years, I think these guys have it to get there. Right now, they aren’t as good as the other teams, but the future looks bright.”

Curveon’s sleeping conditions will be interesting over the 10-day tournament in the city of 90,000. There will be no fancy hotel with room service when he puts his head on a pillow for a good night’s sleep. By choice, Curveon is hauling his personal travel trailer to Kamloops, where he will get a long extension cord to provide power to his unit, sleeping in the parking compound where the buses are located.

“I have my own space out there. It will be kind of nice,” Curveon not batting an eye to the fact he will be staying in a home away from home on wheels.

“It is a good feeling that they [Thompson Valley Charters] recognize that I know what I am doing”, Curveon excited about the once-in-a-lifetime experience. “I transport the Kelowna Rockets all season and I will mesh with the chemistry of the [WHL] team pretty well.”

Curveon knows the rules around a hockey team. Be helpful, upbeat, and personable but not overly chatty.

“I just won’t mention I am a Kelowna Rockets fan,” Curveon again laughing at the situation.

“That said, it may come out in conversation, and I won’t hold it against them that they don’t like it.”