In this photo: Rob Shmoorkoff drives the Kamloops Storm’s bus.
As a kid growing up in Castlegar, Rob Shmoorkoff played in all these rinks.
Shepherding the Kamloops Storm around the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, from Grand Forks and Kimberley, to Osoyoos and Sicamous, brings back hockey memories for the Kamloops bus driver.
He no longer straps on the pads or takes to the ice, but he’s as much a part of the Storm as anyone.
Shmoorkoff puts in long hours, drives through the mornings and nights, plays the team’s music and makes stops when the boys can’t hold their bladders any longer.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love it. I love hockey,” Shmoorkoff told KTW as he stood in Grand Forks’ Jack Goddard Memorial Arena, preparing for the Storm to face off against the Border Bruins.
Shmoorkoff has been with the junior B team since it came to Kamloops for the 2006-2007 season.
In that time, he has watched plenty of players, as well as four head coaches, file on and off his 48-seat ride in towns across the province.
“Those are relationships that you don’t lose,” he said.
“You get to know them. You see them around the schools.”
And, know them he does.
He could tell the demeanour of goaltender Jason Sandhu changed after being pulled in Fruitvale the previous night.
He knows how hard veteran Mitch Friesen has had to work and how much disappointment he has faced in order to make his hockey dreams come true.
He appreciates how well the 2014-2015 Storm treat their rookies, in comparison to teams gone by.
Shmoorkhoff enjoys it all, especially considering he nearly missed out on all of it.
A little more than three years ago, while visiting his native Castlegar, Shmoorkoff was bitten by a hobo spider while out in the bush.
At first, the bite looked like nothing more than a mosquito bite.
But, before long, the injection site began to turn black, the lesion became necrotic.
Shmoorkoff spent 11 days in the ICU after a blood test revealed the source of the bite.
He experienced vision and nerve problems. He was taking 23 pills a day. More than three months passed before the lesion began to close.
“It changed my life,” he said.
“I had a list as long as my arm of shit that was happening.”
Bus driving came along at the right time for Shmoorkoff, who found he was unable to return to his previous job following the scare.
Even now, nearly four years later, the lesion still bothers him. He’s not yet 100 per cent.
But, as he has travelled the road to recovery, he’s thankful to have been able to be on the road with the Storm.
As the boys boarded the bus following their defeat of the Beaver Valley Nitehawks, Shmoorkoff seemed as relieved as anyone, congratulating every player as they passed by his seat at the front.
He might not have been on the ice that night, but he was still a part of the team.
Bus bits
• It’s a 1988 Prevost, previously used as a Greyhound bus, among other things. When Storm general manager Barry Dewar purchased the ride, the previous owners required its exterior be changed. Some of the Storm’s players guessed it was built any time from 1954 to 1962.
• Shmoorkoff fuelled up with diesel before the team left Grand Forks to head back to Kamloops, at a cost of $550 — and that was only half a tank. The bus’ fuel tank holds about 1,000 litres.
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