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Ken Hitchcock helps others nab a shoplifter, makes headlines in process

Ken Hitchcock, Jakub Voracek, R.J. Umberger

Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, rear center, stands behind Blue Jackets’ Jakub Voracek, left, of the Czech Republic, and R.J. Umberger during the third period of a NHL pre-season hockey game in Pittsburgh Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. The Penguins won 5-4 in overtime. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

These moments don’t come along every day, but it seems like they follow a similar script:

  • A minor crime is committed OR someone is in peril.
  • Sports semi-celebrity intervenes.
  • People blow that intervention out of proportion.

It happened when Brooks Laich helped a stranded motorist, when broadcaster Ron MacLean had a Good Samaritan moment and even took place when often-reviled sports agent Drew Rosenhaus saved a drowning boy. While these situations often seem a bit surreal, they’re also vaguely heart warming, especially in the case of people in high-pressure, very much public positions.

Former Ken Hitchcock was just trying to help out the other day when he helped to pin down a shoplifter, but it’d becoming the talk of the the town in Kelowna, British Columbia. Puck Daddy has more on the odd story, originally told in the Daily Courier.

As an NHL coach, Ken Hitchcock’s teams were known for their smothering defense.How fitting, then, that the former Columbus Blue Jackets coach is being lauded in Kelowna, British Columbia for grabbing and holding a shoplifter until public safety officials arrived on Wednesday morning.

According to the Kelowna Daily Courier, a 14-year-old boy shoplifted three pairs of shorts from Cruzwear Unlimited on Bernard Avenue, the “largest swimwear store in Western Canada.” Cruzwear employee Sherrie Lessare grabbed the boy’s backpack as he attempted to flee the store, and called for help.

Hitchcock, who vacations in Kelowna, was sitting in a parked car and sprung to action when he saw the struggle. Hitchcock and a motorcyclist pinned the shoplifter against a window.

Well, that certainly is odd but mostly positive, even if Hitchcock’s involvement was a little exaggerated. Hopefully next time the rotund Cup winning coach is in the headlines, he’ll be named the head coach of another NHL team. That kind of attention would be much more justifiable.