How Predators' Kyle Turris became hero to special needs hockey team in Ottawa

Whenever Kyle Turris’ name appeared on Jim Perkins’ phone last fall, Perkins felt a rush of anxiety.

For months, Perkins dreaded the call that he received from Turris on the evening of Nov. 5. Turris’ career with the Ottawa Senators ended that night, the result of a three-team trade that landed the multi-talented center with the Predators.

Turris had kept Perkins informed of his situation, promising to call when it reached resolution. They had become as close as family through Turris’ commitment to the Capital City Condors, a hockey team for children and adults with special needs that Perkins and wife Shana founded in 2008.

Turris served as the Condors’ “honorary captain” for more than five years, their highest-profile champion in the Ottawa community.

“It was a mix,” Turris, 28, said of his immediate reaction to the trade. “It was excitement, but at the same time, we’re leaving really good friends, and in those really good friends, the Condors family.”

The timing of the trade prevented Turris, who departed the Canadian capital for Nashville a few days later, from extending an appropriate goodbye. He’ll be at the heart of an emotional reunion Thursday when the Predators visit the Senators, his first opportunity to see the Condors since he left.

“The kids don’t really think that much of him being a Senators player,” Perkins said. “He was their friend. After five-plus years here, it was their friend Kyle that got traded. It wasn’t a Senator that got traded. His impact has been that profound.”

‘I left them in a lot better hands’

Turris’ involvement with the Condors stemmed from casual conversation between roommates.

After the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes traded Turris to the Senators in December 2011, he and veteran defenseman Matt Carkner bunked together on road trips. Carkner was the Condors’ original honorary captain, often discussing the program with Turris, who listened with interest.

Once Carkner’s contract expired in 2012, he planned to leave his hometown Senators as a free agent, ultimately signing with the New York Islanders. Among his top priorities was maintaining the strong bond between the Senators and Condors. He immediately tapped Turris as his successor.

“One of my main concerns was trying to leave the Condors in good hands,” said Carkner, now an assistant coach with the Islanders’ top minor-league team. “Actually, I left them in a lot better hands since Kyle really took over and did a remarkable job.

“With that kind of organization, I definitely wanted to leave it with a good person. And that’s what Kyle is. He’s just a good person."

Perkins, who was with Carkner the day he signed with the Islanders, recalled Carkner sending Turris a note asking him to be the Condors’ next honorary captain. When Turris replied, Carkner couldn’t get through it without getting emotional.

“Here,” Carkner said to Perkins, handing him the response. “You read it.”

“My estimation of him went through the ceiling just in that email,” Perkins said. “He was so humbled and honored to even be considered. He said he’d never be able to fill Matt’s shoes, but he would do his best to bring the same kind of character to the program that Matt had brought.”

Perkins witnessed that dedication when he and Turris first met for lunch later that year, the genesis of a story passed around by awed parents. Perkins brought with him the Condors’ yearbook, filled with headshots of each player. Turris asked to borrow it, taking it home so that he and his wife Julie could memorize names and faces.

When they attended the Condors’ first practice of the season, they individually greeted the players, none of whom they’d previously met.

“To learn the lessons that we did from all the families there, what’s really important in life outside of hockey. I mean, hockey’s just a game,” Turris said. “Julie and I can’t thank the Perkins and the Carkners enough for introducing us to this group.”

'They're so invested in these kids'

Camryn Wallace cried on her eighth birthday.

It meant she’d no longer be 7, which Turris wore for the Senators.

Camryn, now 12, joined the Condors during Turris' first season as honorary captain. Like many Condors players, she insisted on wearing No. 7, but her allegiance didn’t stop there.

When the Wallaces refueled their car, they pulled up to pump No. 7. The same rule applied for the checkout counter at the supermarket.

“My daughter is so much in love with him,” Sandra Wallace said.

Sandra kept tabs on the rumors surrounding Turris, who appeared no closer to reaching an agreement with Ottawa on a new contract. On Nov. 5, the Wallace family sat down to dinner, an NHL broadcast airing in the background.

As they ate, Sandra and husband Ross heard the commentators discussing then-Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene, who long had been at the center of trade speculation. He stealthily had left the ice during a game against the Islanders. They figured this was it.

The trade soon became official, with Duchene shipped to Ottawa and Turris to Nashville. Sandra and Ross wanted Camryn, who has Down syndrome, to hear about it from them, so they decided to tell her before bed.

Camryn slept that night with a teddy bear that Turris won for her at a local fair and a Senators sweater with a personalized note from him scribbled on the back — “Camryn, I looooove you!”

“So you understand that Kyle and Julie are moving, right?” Sandra asked Camryn the next morning. Not realizing that before, Camryn was devastated.

“We miss them a lot. A lot,” Sandra said. “They’re a pretty special couple, that’s for sure.”

Last year, Sandra was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a serious operation. So she could rest, Turris took Camryn and her older sister Reagan to his home after an off-day practice during the Senators’ first-round playoff series. Julie treated the girls to lunch and shopping.

“That’s the type of thing that they just don’t think twice about doing,” Sandra said. “They’re so invested in these kids, and it’s not just my kid, but it’s the team. They just do so much for the team and the organization and each one of those players. They’re amazing.”

Camryn already has made a request with the Condors to switch to No. 8, Turris' new number with the Predators. The Wallaces now fill up at the appropriately numbered gas pump.

'They were following their heart'

At 6:23 p.m. ET last May 6, Turris slipped the puck into the New York Rangers’ net, clinching the Senators’ Game 5 overtime victory in the second round.

About five miles away from Canadian Tire Centre at the Brookstreet Hotel, the 300 attendees at the Condors’ end-of-season banquet erupted in celebration as they huddled around laptops streaming the game.

In his opening remarks, Perkins tempered expectations, letting the crowd know that Kyle and Julie probably wouldn’t make it. Any remote chance of that happening evaporated from Perkins’ mind when the Senators forced overtime and Turris scored the game-winner.

But less than one hour after the game’s conclusion, Perkins spotted them at the back of the room.

“Somebody just walked around the back corner,” Perkins announced. “You might recognize this guy.”

Bedlam ensued. Condors players swarmed Turris, known by many of them as "my buddy Kyle." They offered congratulations and tight hugs.

“It was at least 15 minutes before he could make it to the front,” Perkins said.

“You couldn’t have written a better story, right?" said Sandra Wallace, who wasn’t at the banquet. "So proud of him for scoring that goal, taking a lead in the series and then showing up at the banquet, which he said he would do whether (the Senators) won or lost.”

Turris' surprise appearance, much to his and Julie’s astonishment, went viral.

“Neither of them could figure out why it was becoming a story,” Perkins said. “Both of them said, ‘I don’t get it. This really isn’t a big story. We wanted to be there. That’s why we went there that night.’ They were following their heart.”

'Bigger than hockey'

Reminders of the Condors fill Turris’ Brentwood home.

Artwork painted by players and a team-signed hockey stick serve as decoration. An hour-long goodbye video featuring Condors players and their families elicited heavy tears, the same that flowed three months ago when Perkins visited the Turrises on the night of the trade.

“Julie had the tissue box out,” Turris said.

The rewarding experience of working with the Condors influenced how the Turrises have raised their three infant children — sons Beckett and Cooper and daughter Teddie.

“Everybody’s thanking us for helping them out,” said Turris, who is considering replacements for honorary captain. "But the amount we learned from them, we wanted to grow into the parents that they were and the families that they were. That’s what we’ve tried to do with our kids.”

Most of the Condors’ 114 members, who range in age this season from 6 to 35, will be in attendance at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday. Turris has arranged to meet them before the Predators depart for Montreal after the game.

They’ll be wearing shirts made for the occasion, colored black, grey and red in support of the Senators. On the back are the Condors' motto, "Bigger than hockey," in hashtag form and a message for their buddy Kyle:

"Thank you, Turris."

“You often hear pro athletes, they lend their name to an organization and they make the odd appearance here and there,” Sandra Wallace said. “But that’s so not what Kyle and Julie have done. They’ve truly given their hearts to this organization.”

Reach Adam Vingan at avingan@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamVingan.