Hockey teammates gather at hospice window for one last beer with fellow Old Timer

Ron Rutkowski spent some of his best days at the rink. It's where he'd get together with his closest friends, lace up his skates and have fun playing the game he loved.

Or, as he liked to call it, drink beers and chase pucks.

"He was always such a character," said Mike Skinner, Rutkowski's friend and teammate. "There was no one like him. He could make everybody laugh."

Rutkowski played for the Summerland Old Timers, an Okanagan beer league team that was an integral part of his life for the better part of three decades. They might have been better known for trash talk than winning games, and Rutkowski might have been the player with the quickest wit.

That wit stuck with him as he battled cancer for the past several years. On Sept. 29, his team bade Rutkowski, 68, farewell from the window outside his hospice bed. They were dressed in jerseys while playing his favourite songs from a loudspeaker — and served him one last cold one.

The farewell might have lasted for only one beer. But the legacy Rutkowski leaves behind will endure both on and off the ice.

Old Timers

The Old Timers are an eclectic mix of players with varying degrees of age and talent. Rutkowski played for more than 25 years in the Old Timers jersey, which features an image of an old hockey player chasing a beer.

"Outside of work and his family, that was his life," said his son Jason. "They had great times. They were just a very close team."

Rutkowski would drive Skinner to the rink every Thursday. The team would travel for tournaments, with Rutkowski known for lifting the spirits of his bench through jokes and banter. He could even make players on the other team crack a smile.

"I'd be waiting for him in the truck sometimes for 30 minutes after the game," said Skinner. "I knew he was in the other team's dressing room, and they were throwing beers at him. He could never turn down a beer."

Ron passes on

Rutkowski was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. His son said it was caught too late. He tried a variety of different treatments and, as his health deteriorated, he was no longer able to play hockey.

He was checked into a hospice in September, and his conditioned worsened significantly. The players of the team rushed over to say goodbye on one of his final days.

They played Nickelback from a loudspeaker, music that Rutkowski loved to blast in the locker room. They brought him a cheeseburger from a local pub. But, perhaps most importantly, they brought him a cold lager.

"We sent it in with the nurse," said Skinner. "And it was cracked open and he was drinking it by the time we got over to the window."

The players said their goodbyes from behind the window over the phone. Rutkowski, witty as ever, took jabs and cracked jokes with his friends for the last time. He passed away two days later.

His son and daughter, who both live in Australia, were unable to see him due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. But Jason Rutkowski says the team farewell offered his father the closure he needed.

"He must have been so sad that [my sister and I] couldn't come see him, so I'm sure it meant the world to have those guys show up like that and show them that they love him, too," he said.