Tony Hrkac has been to a lot of hockey games in his life. After 758 career NHL games as a player, Hrkac did some coaching at the NCAA and USHL level before eventually joining the Tampa Bay Lightning organization as a Pro Scout in 2015.
As a scout, Hrkac does most of his work in the Midwest, traveling to various arenas and sitting in the press box watching both AHL and NHL games. And despite watching games from the press box for the past nine years, Hrkac said he can’t recall anything too crazy or out of the ordinary ever happening at a game he was working.
That all changed earlier this month. In the later months of 2023, Hrkac’s territory expanded to southern California, which brought him to Crypto.com Arena on January 4 to catch a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings.
At the beginning, it was like any other game. The horn sounded at the end of a period, allowing media members, scouts, broadcast talent and others to grab a couple snacks or take a quick bathroom break during the intermission.
Most intermissions are the same for Hrkac. He’ll stretch his legs, chat with some scouts from around the league and maybe grab a hot cup of coffee.
But this intermission was unlike any other.
Standing in a corner of the press box, Hrkac noticed a man rapidly walking around the corner and approaching the garbage can directly behind him.
“I was just standing there, kind of minding my own business,” Hrkac said. “I just thought he was spitting something out at first. I was the only guy that saw him do that because the garbage can was kind of in the corner.”
But the abnormally fast walk to the trash can wasn’t just to casually spit something out. It was far more serious than that. The man was choking on a pretzel. And it wasn’t getting better.
“I turned and I just saw him struggling,” Hrkac shared. “His eyes were real wide and he was choking. I just turned around and grabbed him and started doing the Heimlich on him.
“Then, I just kept doing it until it popped out. It happened so quick. The whole thing was probably 20 or 30 seconds. I’m just glad I was in the right spot at the right time.”
Hrkac said he learned the Heimlich Maneuver over 15 years ago when he was coaching at Concordia University Wisconsin. The coaches took first aid courses every two years and had some refresher courses along the way as well.
“I’m just glad I could help,” said Hrkac. “Obviously, it was a great feeling just to be in the right place at the right time.
“I think he was choking for a little bit, even before I saw him. He was obviously scared but was very thankful after. There’s always a bunch of people sitting up in the press box, so people came up and shook my hand and stuff like that. That was pretty neat.”
Hrkac said he’s received plenty of messages from friends across the league since that night in Los Angeles. The handshakes and recognition are all well-deserved for Hrkac. If not for him, who knows what would have happened? Thankfully, we’ll never know.
