As the former co-owner and hockey GM of the highly successful Sherwood Park Crusaders, Kyle Chase knows about assists and he’s offering up the biggest one of his life helping his NHL brother Kelly in his fight with leukemia.
The two brothers will undergo a stem-cell transplant Dec. 20 at a cancer facility in St. Louis and hopefully it’ll be the best Christmas present ever for the family with Kelly, the long-time Blues winger first getting acute myeloid leukemia in 2023, beating it back with chemotherapy, only to have the cancer return last month.
“They’re going to take as many healthy blood cells out of me as they can… cleaning my blood if you will, then they’ll transplant them into Kelly,” said Kyle, 55, who will be flying to St. Louis this upcoming weekend for five days of surgery preparation.
“It’s funny but Kelly was interviewed one day and he said ‘Well, I’ll just be a little dumber now (with Kyle’s blood cells),” said Kyle. “And I told him ‘What’s it going to be like to use four-syllable words for a change? Probably new for you, eh?’ ”
Hockey-loving Kyle — whose son Greg was once drafted by the Oilers, and now is a Western pro scout for the Philadelphia Flyers — says it’s all part of the back-and-forth banter the brothers have.
“Kelly’s my older brother by two and a half years, and I said ‘There I go again, saving your life.’ And he goes, ‘screw you.’ I know he would do this for me. He’s always been with you win or lose, not win or tie,” Kyle said, adding that Kelly has always had everyone’s back, “in true Saskatchewan fashion,” having grown up there.
“Our dad passed away when I was 13, my sister was 14 and my brother was 15 and the truth is Kelly has always been the leader in the family… he’s just always been a solid guy and I think that’s why he has so many positive relationships,” said Kyle, who left the junior A Crusaders in 2021 after 18 years with the organization and now is the mergers and acquisition business.
Kyle, whose fiancée Stephanie is undergoing a skin cancer battle of her own right now as he gets ready to help his brother, calls Kelly the “ultimate teammate.”
“I know when my brother is talking to you, you’re the most important person in the room….this is why people learn to like Kelly because he’s real,” said Kyle.
And now Kelly, one of the game’s great characters with countless scraps over 458 NHL games, who took to the broadcast booth working the Blues’ radio broadcasts after playing, is in the biggest fight of his life.
“I feel grateful but at the same time helpless (aiding his brother). God willing this has to work. God willing his body accepts (the transplant). We should know pretty quickly, from what I understand,” said Kyle, detouring his brother’s illness briefly to talk about the Blues using a mouldy, very old pair of Kelly’s shoulder pads as their Player of the Game salute these days after former Blues equipment manager Bert Godin unearthed the paraphernalia.
“Yeah…the ones he bought from Cameron’s Sporting Goods when he was 14 years old (Saskatchewan). He wore them every game in the NHL and had a couple of hundred fights in them, probably another 150 fights in junior,” said Kyle.
Now, Kyle is Kelly’s shoulder to lean on.
This ‘n that: Kyle’s son Greg, 29, a winger drafted by the Oilers in 2013 who spent lots of time playing in Bakersfield before other minor-league stops, is in his second year as Flyers pro scout. He does the AHL West Coast, plus NHL games here and in Calgary. “Danny Briere (Flyers GM) was his general manager in the minors and Riley Armstrong was his coach and Riley’s now their player development in Philly. They had a good relationship. Greg’s based out of Edmonton and his fiancée is a nurse at the Stollery… It’s going to be interesting with Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson negotiating with his old agency partner Dave Gagner (Sam’s dad) on that new Evan Bouchard long-term contract… When Kyle Chase, who was also the Team 1260’s co-host morning guy alongside Dustin Nielson, was Crusaders’ GM, the Oilers drafted Carter Savoie and Matt Benning’s brother Michael. Carter is currently playing for Greenville, LA Kings’ ECHL affiliate, and Michael with Florida’s AHL farm club… The Oilers 2023 second-round draft D Beau Akey (Barrie Colts), who didn’t take part in training camp in the fall because he was still rehabbing after last year’s shoulder surgery, has obviously rebounded nicely to be one of 10 blueliners trying for seven spots at Canada’s selection camp this week for the U20 worlds in Ottawa… Team USA could have a local flavour too: Oil Kings D Blake Fiddler, who played for the CHL rep squad against the U.S Development program side in Ontario 10 days ago, was invited, as was Paul Fischer, the stay-at-home left D Notre Dame sophomore—the youngster Oilers got from the Blues in the wake of not matching the St. Louis offer sheets on Holloway and Broberg… That minor-league trade the Oilers made Friday with Montreal where they got former first-round forward (2020) Jacob Perreault for defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer is noteworthy because Jacob is former NHler Yanic’s son. Perreault scored in his first Bakersfield game Sunday. He was drafted by Anaheim played one game for Ducks and was playing in the ECHL at the time of the Oiler trade… That summer Xavier Bourgault for Roby Jarventie (Ottawa) trade hasn’t done much for the Oilers. Jarventie has only played two games in Bakersfield because of knee issues (two points). He had knee surgery with the Senators, but his other knee acted up at camp and he didn’t play games or practice.
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