The phone of the Dallas Stars’ director of team services rang at 4:42 p.m. on Tuesday, with a call from one of the team’s international amateur scouts.
“As soon as I heard Jiří’s voice, I knew something wasn’t right,” Jason Rademan, who oversees team travel, said. “He told me what happened. The first thought, of course, was, ‘Are you OK?’”
Jiří Hrdina and Fredrik Haak, his travel partner and newly hired scouting colleague, were fine, but they were stranded in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, at exit 73 on Highway 81 in Virginia, on the latest leg of their turbulent journey to the NHL Draft.
The scouts had been in a car crash, their rental car disabled when it got smashed by a large truck. Why were they in a car? Because flight-connection problems out of New York and New Jersey made driving almost 900 miles to Nashville seem like a better option. The trip had turned into a calamity, with multiple flight cancellations, lost luggage and nearly two straight days without sleep.
As Rademan pondered how to help the scouts resume their ill-fated trip, his phone rang again, this time with an unfamiliar number from Alaska. Thinking it was a spam call, he ignored it. The phone rang again, with the same number. This time, Rademan picked up.
“Hi, my name is Alex,” the caller said. “I’m here with your guys in the middle of Virginia. I saw what happened. I just wanted to help.”
And that’s how Hrdina and Haak ended up being escorted to the draft in a recreational vehicle.
Hrdina, a longtime Stars scout, and Haak, who technically doesn’t even start his job until July 1, met up in Newark, but not by design.
Hrdina arrived in New York, at John F. Kennedy Airport, on Sunday afternoon from Prague, anticipating a short layover before continuing on to Nashville. After several delays, that flight was canceled. After being told by a booking agent that his best option was a Monday-morning flight out of JFK, he stayed overnight near that airport. When he went to the airline desk on Monday morning, he was told that there was no record of his booking at JFK.
Jiří Hrdina at the NHL Draft on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Dallas Stars)
So, Hrdina was directed to the Newark airport, hoping for a Monday night flight. That’s where he found Haak, who had arrived that morning from Sweden and who had already sat through one flight cancellation on his way to Nashville. Hrdina started to get to know his new teammate. They watched as their 7 p.m. flight got delayed to 10 p.m., then 1 a.m., then 2 a.m.
Finally, at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, the flight was canceled.
Hrdina and Haak were back on the phones, trying to find yet another flight that could get them to Nashville in time to join their colleagues for the start of the draft on Wednesday evening. There were hardly any open seats and, of course, no guarantee that any plane would get off the ground.
“We tried to re-book tickets,” Haak said. “I got a seat but he didn’t. He was on the waiting list. It felt wrong for me to hope that I get a ticket and maybe he won’t. We decided that we’ll drive so that we can be sure that we make it.”
At approximately 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, Hrdina and Haak finally abandoned their hopes for air travel. Neither one of them had slept since Sunday night. They rented a car and made plans for the nearly 900-mile, 13-plus hour road trip in a gray Mercedes-Benz. With both of them running low on sleep, they planned for one person to drive while the other slept. For the time they were both awake, they would chat, get to know each other and have a good time.
Almost eight hours into their trek, Hrdina was behind the wheel through Wytheville, Virginia. An accident ahead resulted in standstill traffic on the highway. Hrdina said an 18-wheel truck carrying stacks of wood came barreling ahead down the left shoulder, scraping the guardrail along the way.
“All of the cars stopped (ahead) so we stopped, of course,” Haak said. “Then, there was the truck behind us that, for some reason, didn’t manage to stop. Jiří saw in the mirror (the truck coming) and started going, “Woah, woah, woah!” and I was like, ‘OK, what’s happening?’”
Hrdina tried to move the car, but the truck rammed into the driver’s side rear and broke the rear axle, and the impact caused the car to hit an SUV in front of it before the truck topped off the collision by hitting the SUV.
The truck also grazed the side of Alex Temple’s recreational vehicle. Temple retired from the U.S. Marine Corps last month after 20 years — he was a gunnery sergeant and an aircraft firefighter — and he and his wife, Jamie, and their three daughters had loaded into the RV for a multi-day road trip.
“I heard what sounded like a freight train,” Temple said of the truck and the accident, and his instincts kicked in. He turned on his emergency signals, got out and started checking on the cars that had been crunched from behind.
“Twenty years of being a firefighter, you just start checking on people,” Temple said.
When he approached Hrdina, Temple said the Stars’ scout didn’t even seem fazed. After hearing the story of what Hrdina’s journey had been to that point, Temple understood why.
“He had this look on his face like, ‘What else can happen?’” Temple said. “He wasn’t upset, he wasn’t angry.”
Part of the accident scene in Virginia. (Courtesy of Alex Temple)
As Temple checked on other drivers, Hrdina and Haak got in touch with Rademan, who was already in Nashville with the team and who advised them to start trying to get a replacement car — which of course would not be easy. But Hrdina and Haak began to have trouble with their phones, so Temple offered to help make the calls.
Since the two scouts essentially were stranded, Rademan asked Temple if he could drive them to the closest hotel. From there, Rademan would try to figure out a solution. By that time, Temple had already invited Hrdina and Haak into the RV, and they were following a tow truck because Hrdina and Haak had forgotten to get some of their belongings out of the rental car.
Rademan expressed his gratitude to Temple via text message for helping Hrdina and Haak.
“Agh no worries,” Temple texted back. “I’d hope someone would do the same for me and mine.”
Once the scouts got their bags, Hrdina and Haak got back in the RV, thankful to have a way to get off the road and to find a place to sleep. They figured the Temples, who were eventually headed northwest toward Alaska, would be on their way after that.
“He said, ‘No, no, no, I’m going to take you all the way to Nashville,’” Hrdina said. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Because his work and family kept him busy, Temple never became an avid sports fan. He had no idea who Hrdina and Haak were. Initially, he thought he was giving a ride to a couple of hockey fans. Temple wanted to help them get to the draft so they could watch their favorite team make a few selections.
As they drove for the remaining seven hours, Alex, Jamie, Hrdina and Haak talked for most of the way — Hrdina and Alex about family and kids, humanity and society, while Jamie and Haak talked about cultural differences.
“We were exchanging some stories,” Hrdina said of Alex. “We became pretty close and pretty good friends now. He’s a great guy.”
The caravan got into Nashville at approximately 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Hrdina asked to be dropped off at the airport because although he didn’t make it out of JFK, his luggage had already reached the Nashville airport. Haak didn’t have the same luck. His luggage was still stuck in Newark, so all he had was his backpack and carry-on. Fortunately, his girlfriend had advised him, before he left Stockholm, to pack a suit in his carry-on, just in case. Although he had to buy shoes in Nashville, he wore that suit on the first night of the draft on Wednesday.
When Haak came to the Stars’ hotel lobby a few minutes before the team bus departed for Bridgestone Arena, one of the veteran scouts greeted him with a hug and a joke.
“Hey, it’s ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’” he said, with a laugh.
On Wednesday afternoon, Rademan sent a thankful message to Temple, and included the Stars’ 2023-24 regular-season schedule. The Stars invited Temple and his family to any game, in whatever city is most convenient for them. They also plan to compensate Temple and send jerseys and other items to the family to thank them for their kindness.
As it turned out, Temple’s father grew up in Lubbock and he said the family has, ironically, been fans of the Dallas Cowboys. Temple said his family plans to make a trip to Dallas to catch a game at the American Airlines Center.
“It was an absolute pleasure and an opportunity to show my girls how people help people,” Temple texted back to Rademan on Wednesday.
“Being in emergency services, you don’t see enough people helping people,” Temple said. “Being the father of three daughters, I feel like it’s my responsibility to show my daughters how people take care of people.”
Alex Temple, his wife, Jamie, and their daughters. (Courtesy of Alex Temple)
That provided the answer to the question that was on the mind of Rademan, Hrdina and Haak. Why? Why would Temple and his wife take in strangers like that, and go out of their way to help?
“For him to even stop on the side of the road is one thing,” Rademan said. “For him to follow the tow truck is unreal. For him to drive 400 miles, seven hours, somewhat out of his way, it’s just a godsend. Honestly, like a guardian angel. He didn’t know he was stopping. Can’t say enough about this guy. A hero.”
(Top photo of Fredrik Haak at the NHL Draft on Wednesday: Courtesy of Dallas Stars)
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