would not cover. To make
matters worse, Hockey Canada
– acting as the secondary
insurer – was originally only
willing to cover up to $2,500
of Torfason’s medical bill.
It was at that point where
Jerry Maryniuk – Assistant
Manager of the Ice Dawgs
and former General Manager
and Founding Member –
decided that enough was
enough, and stepped in to
help out the Torfason family.
“When I heard how
Manitoba Health was viewing
this injury, I was very
disappointed,” Maryniuk
said. “After some lobbying
and phone calls, we ended up
getting $5,000 from Hockey
Canada. After my appeal to
Hockey Canada, they admitted
that they had done a poor
job communicating the fact
that you need extra dental
insurance. Unfortunately
the KJHL, Junior C, and
many other Senior leagues
in Manitoba did not actually
1 1 8 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017
have the adequate insurance
to cover this sort of incident.
So at least there will be some
good coming from this, as now
all of those leagues will be
getting the proper insurance.”
As a retired member of the
Winnipeg Police Department,
Maryniuk also decided to do
a bit of investigative work,
looking into how Hockey USA
and Hockey Sweden would
have handled this situation.
“Had Clint been a Swedish
player, the governing body
would have covered the entire
expense,” Maryniuk said. “If he
were an American, he would
have had to pay a $1,000
deductible – as opposed to
the approximately $30,000
bill he will be receiving here.
But don’t get me wrong, this
horrific incident began ugly,
but became very positive as
the Ice Dawgs, family, friends,
and the entire Interlake
community rallied around
the Torfasons, helping raise
funds for the expenses.”
After turning down the
idea multiple times, Torfason
finally allowed Maryniuk
and the Arborg Ice Dawgs to
hold a fundraising social in
his name this past October
to help with the costs
associated with his injury.
“We had the social after one
of our home games, and the
support was unbelievable,”
Torfason recalled. “After all
was said and done, we raised
about $25,000! It was very
surprising; in all honesty, my
family and I really weren’t
too sure how well a social
would go over in Arborg, in
October…. But Jerry and a
few others really got the word
out, and a lot of donations
and silent auction prizes just
kept piling in. We even got
prizes from Dale Hawerchuk,
James Reimer, Cody McLeod,
Reggie Leach and Ted Irvine.
It was a great night.”
Although Clint Torfason
and his family have come
very close to raising
the required funds for
their upcoming dental
endeavour, the procedures
are still months away, and
there are many games of
hockey left to be played.
“This whole process has
taken a lot longer than I
originally thought,” the
Winnipeg Beach native said
with a chuckle. “Being only
21, the shattered teeth didn’t
exactly pop out too easily, and
the dentist had to remove
some jaw bone in order to get
everything out. I’ve just been
going to and from Winnipeg
for appointments, impressions
and scans recently. They
had me lined up to do my
bone grafting in January,
but with this being my final
year of junior hockey, I didn’t
want to have to worry any
more about my mouth, so
we pushed that back until
May – when hockey’s over.”
And all too soon, junior
hockey will be just that
for Torfason… over. But in
playing on a team hungry for
redemption following last
season’s loss in the finals,
it certainly provides ample
opportunity for the over-
ager to take care of some
unfinished business. In
leading his team to an 8-3-1
record through the first 12
games of the year, Torfason is
ready to do whatever it takes
to get back to the KJHL finals
– with or without a healthy
diet of mashed potatoes.
“Obviously the ultimate goal
is to win the championship,”
he said. “Arborg has always
been a contender, and we
came really close last year.
So that definitely stung a
bit. Now it’s my final year,
you know, the final kick at
the can. We’re going to take
one more crack at it and
see what happens.” ❍