By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Bellerive and Alfaro progressing, while Vandervlis remains in a medically induced coma following fire pit explosion

Jun 19, 2018 | 2:22 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Lethbridge Hurricanes General Manager Peter Anholt met with the media on Tuesday, June 19, to release further details about the fire pit explosion in Calgary over the weekend that left current players Jordy Bellerive and Ryan Vandervlis, as well as former Hurricane Matt Alfaro in hospital.

To begin, Anholt read a prepared statement.

“The Lethbridge Hurricanes hockey club and the Western Hockey League are deeply saddened by the events involving two Hurricanes players, Jordy Bellerive and Ryan Vandervlis, and also WHL alumnus Matt Alfaro. Alfaro, Bellerive, and Vandervlis suffered various injuries resulting from starting a campfire on the evening of Friday, June 15. All three players are currently being treated for their injuries at a hospital in Calgary. It has been reported that the campfire occurred during a bachelor party, these reports are inaccurate and totally false. The campfire incident occurred at the family home of former WHL player Tyler Wong along with nine of his friends prior to a planned day of golf and camping. Alfaro and Bellerive sustained burns to their upper bodies and are continuing to make progress and steps towards full recovery. Vandervlis sustained burns to the front of his body and has continued to be in a medically induced coma. He too has shown signs of progress having been taken off of dialysis yesterday which again is a real positive step. If anyone wants to send a card to the boys and their families, please feel free to drop them off at the Hurricanes office and we will make sure they get delivered. The visitors of Alfaro and Bellerive have been limited to and will continue to be, family members, teammates and close friends until further notice. Ryan Vandervlis is not taking visitors at this time, and the Vandervlis family has been approached by a number of different groups and individuals in regard to financial support. The Hurricanes will help and aid the Vandervlis family make this process clearer in the near future.“

The outpouring of support for the Hurricanes and the boys on social media has been strong, and Anholt talked about what the reaction from the hockey community has meant to him and his club.

“One thing that we see about the hockey business, in general, is how people, former teammates, staff and fans rally around players. You can really see how the passion and the care for the boys, and their families and billet families, extends right through the community. It’s been amazing to be around over the last three days to see how it galvanizes the hockey community in a lot of ways,” Anholt said.

Nighttime construction on Hwy 3 in Lethbridge starts April 17

Apr 17, 2025

SASHA launches #BuyABed fundraiser to support vulnerable Lethbridge residents

Apr 04, 2025

$20K grants available: TELUS STORYHIVE Pan-Asian Edition opens applications April 1

Mar 18, 2025

Anholt was in Calgary off and on for three days after the incident and admits the first day was tough.

“But I was really pleased with Alfaro and Bellerive over the following two days. I haven’t seen Vandervlis yet but certainly, I’ve had lots of discussions with the Vandervlis family,” he continued. “Both Matt and Jordy have continued to make great strides over the last couple of days and their personalities have continued to come out.”

Bellerive has had a number of ex-teammates, current teammates and family members around him in recent days, and Anholt says he was holding court in his room much like he does which was really positive.

“Matt is the same, you could see his personality start to come back over the last couple of days and even their injuries seemed to have been getting better over those couple days, at least in my mind from what I’ve seen. In visiting with the Vandervlis family there’s so much hope and positive feeling from everybody,” Anholt stated, adding they’re hoping that will continue for Vandervlis.

Everything took place at Tyler Wong’s family home, and Anholt admitted, like everyone involved, his parents are struggling with what happened.

“I think in talking to Julie and Will, first of all, you know about their care for the boys, and that’s all the boys. They’ve been a part of the Hurricane family for a long, long time and continue to be. They’re struggling, especially when there are false reports about the incident, those are things that we can help with and clarify the situation a little bit better.”

Various media outlets reported that the boys had gathered for a stag or bachelor party after being informed by sources, but Anholt strongly pushed back on that over and over.

“Anytime that there are reports that aren’t correct, I think we all want to make sure they’re clarified,” Anholt continued. “It was for a short period of time it was for a two-day period where we wanted to wait for any kind of release to take a step back to see how things played themselves out.”

Anholt added that now that they’ve had some time to be able to clarify the reports, he’s hopeful that will put a stop to that.

As for the distinction that it was pre-wedding get-together?

“Well, Tyler Wong is getting married and this happened before the wedding, so I guess you can say whatever you like as far as pre-wedding is concerned. We’re talking about nine awesome kids, men, good friends, and they were getting prepared to play some golf the next day and go camping. That’s what it was, done,” Anholt stated.

The release from Cochrane RCMP on Sunday, June 17, stated ‘upon arrival, it was determined that a substance was placed into a fire-pit that caused an explosion.’

Due to the police investigation that’s ongoing, Anholt couldn’t discuss details about what led to the explosion.

“From my standpoint, they’re just doing an investigation to find out what did happen and then they can help out so hopefully, it won’t happen again. I think anybody who has camped, and anybody who has started a fire with wet wood has used some sort of accelerant, but this went wrong. Why it happened I don’t know because I wasn’t there, I don’t know those details, and maybe at some point, the police investigation will bring that up.”

A further inquiry revealed that from what Anholt understood, all three of the boys were sitting on the same bench beside one another in a close vicinity.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bellerive released a statement via Twitter as well, stating:

“I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has reached out to my family and I sending us your best wishes. The support truly means the world to us. My friends and I have gone through a very hard time lately and are doing our best to stay positive. Although I have suffered from some very severe and painful burns, I am doing better each day. I am on my way to making a full recovery! I ask that you please continue to keep Ryan Vandervlis and Matt Alfaro in your thoughts and help them to a full recovery as well. Once again, thank you to my friends, family and all the hockey fans out there for all the unconditional support.“

The players who were injured, and other members of the Hurricanes team and staff, will have access to any sort of help they need to get through this time.

“Mark Dyck our chaplain has already been to Calgary and met with families there, and he’s met with our staff,” Anholt said. “We will certainly have any kind of counselling and help available going forward, whatever anybody needs.”

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the Lethbridge News Now newsletter here. You can also download the Lethbridge News Now mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.