Former Minnesota Wild prospect Kris Foucault was a fourth round pick by the team in the 2009 NHL Draft, and while his NHL career never took off, the left wing has had success over the last decade playing in Europe.
In addition to his professional achievements, Foucault can now be referred to as a hero. While on vacation with his family in Nassau, Bahamas, Foucault came to the rescue and saved a 6-year-old girl from drowning in the ocean on May 10, according to the NHL.
Foucault, 31, said that swimming and staying in shape are two of the main reasons he's been able to keep playing professional hockey. Despite being from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Foucault also has a lifetime of experience in the ocean. His family would often vacation to Hawaii and the Canadian west coast, so he feels comfortable in the water.
"As hockey players, we do have to stay in tip-top shape," Foucault said. "For me, I'm a little bit of an older player -- I'm 31 -- staying in shape and being able to swim has kept my career going. I shout out my trainers for keeping me equipped for hockey and equipped for other situations as well."
Foucault was eating lunch by the pool with his wife and two children when he heard screaming on Cabbage Beach. His mother-in-law and sister-in-law had been on a walk at the beach and were walking up the stairs to the pool, so Foucault asked what was going on.
"It's a little girl," Jackie Kirk, Focault's mother-in-law, said.
The 6-foot-1, 206 pound hockey player knew he had to help, sprinting towards the beach and heading straight for the young girl in the water.
"As I got through the wave, I saw her lifeless body floating on the top about 50 feet in front of me," Foucault said. "I actually thought I was just recovering a body."
Foucault had some assistance from another man to help him to get the girl out of the water. She was clearly unconscious, had blue lips, and there were fluids coming out of her mouth and nose. A lifeguard rushed down to the edge of the water, laid the girl on her side to allow her to throw up the fluids, and then performed CPR. Luckily, she was fully resuscitated, and held onto her mother afterwards.
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Foucault has not been contacted by the 6-year-old's family since the accident, but she was taken to a nearby hospital after being saved.
"I missed a bit of what happened when we got to shore because I kind of just laid down," Foucault said. "I was out of breath and needed a bit of a rest."
The 31-year-old recently had shoulder surgery in March to repair labral tear that he suffered during his season in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany. He had been on vacation in the Bahamas since May 4, but had not gone swimming because of his shoulder.
Foucault compared saving the young girl to helping out a teammate on the ice something he's always willing to do.
"It's the team aspect of hockey," Foucault said. "If your teammate is in trouble, you try to help. [On Cabbage Beach], someone was in trouble and I thought I could help."
His mother-in-law added that he was "definitely the right guy" to go in the water and save the young girl.
"It didn't surprise me that Kris did that," Kirk said. "He was so fast to dive in there and definitely the right guy to be there. He would do anything to help anybody."
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