A South Delta hockey player is being hailed a hero both on and off the ice.
Taylor Peters, a Tsawwassen native currently playing for the Western Hockey League's Portland Winterhawks, is making headlines after saving a drowning kayaker's life on New Year's Day.
Peters was just finishing dinner with his billet family, who live in a house boat on Portland's Willamette River, when the family heard someone calling for help.
"Sure enough, out of the darkness of the water was a voice shouting for help," Peters wrote on his blog.
Peters and the family's adult son, who was home for the holidays, climbed into their own kayaks and headed out in search of the person in distress.
Using only the lights reflecting from other houses along the river, the pair quickly located the man, who had been kayaking with a friend when their boat capsized. He was clinging to the side of the kayak, unable to pull himself out of the freezing water.
The man was able to hold onto the side of Peters' kayak while he paddled back across the river.
"After what seemed an eternity of the hardest kayaking I'd ever done, we finally broke out of the current and reached the shore," Peters said. "The coast guard arrived shortly after and we ended up getting a ride back across."
Williamette River Patrol Office Deputy Jason Tyrus said Peters is being hailed a hero for saving the life of the man who is in his 20s.
"The river is very cold... and the current can be very strong," Tyrus said.
He said Peters and his fellow rescuer could be up for an award for bravery.
On the ice two days later, Peters, who plays centre, scored the overtime winner to beat the Moose Jaw Warriors.
With files from John Colebourn, The Province
