Photo credit: RocketFAN

By Regan Bartel

Rockets forward saves man from drowning

Ty Hurley the hero

Dec 8, 2023 | 2:00 PM

Ty Hurley doesn’t consider himself a hero.

Witnesses suggest otherwise.

The Kelowna Rockets forward jumped into action Thursday night while sitting outside the hotel pool area at the Travel Lodge in Strathmore, Alberta.

“A man in his 40’s was acting strangely in the pool,” Hurley told RocketFAN. “I am not sure if he was intoxicated or not, but he was staying underwater for a long period and then popping up.”

Originally, Hurley didn’t make much of it, watching from afar from the hotel lobby. The 19-year-old thought he would go for a closer look by sitting near the hot tub as a hotel employee was speaking to the man out of concern for his safety.

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“He ended up going further out into the pool,” Hurley added. “He submerged himself for over 30 seconds, and I am saying to myself, ‘Oh shoot, we have got to get him out of the water’. He was trying to drown himself.”

Hurley knew he had to take matters into his own hands by taking off his shirt, leaning over the edge of the pool, and grabbing the man by his shoulders, pulling him out of the water.

“I flipped him on his back,” Hurley continued. “He wasn’t breathing at all. I checked his airway, checked his pulse and he wasn’t getting air to his lungs. I went right into compressions.”

Thankfully, four years ago, Hurley took a life-saving course to be an off-season lifeguard.

“When doing compressions, you push right between the nipples for 30 compressions and then usually two breaths. I probably got to 15 compressions, and he let out a gasp and started breathing.”

While this was going on, someone called 911, with paramedics eventually arriving on the scene.

“He was unconscious. We got towels, flipped him on his side and his hands were blue,” he said. “He was barely alive.”

RocketFAN asked Hurley how he remained so calm in what can only be described as a stressful situation.

“Thankfully these things don’t happen often,” he added. “He might be trying to drown himself, so I had to do something. We need to get involved here and get him out. He wasn’t just messing around.”

Among the eyewitnesses was teammate Ethan Neutens.

“It was pretty scary,” Neutens said with a serious tone in his voice. “The man in the pool had his clothes on. I am glad we were watching. It isn’t easy doing what Ty [Hurley] did, so it was courageous, so good on him.”

Does Hurley consider himself a hero?

“Thankfully I was there to get him out of the water. Had he been in there any longer, he might have not made it.

“I feel like I did what anyone would have done,” he said modestly.

“I am just glad I got him out of the water, and he is alive.”