A Nanoose Bay couple’s good-hearted attempt to send a Canadian junior hockey player his favourite doughnuts via express courier went awry, apparently due to U.S. regulations.
When John Watt read about Team Canada’s Brady Martin’s pre-game ritual of eating two chocolate glazed doughnuts, he realized Martin would be in a tough spot without a Tim Hortons close by in Minneapolis-St. Paul, site of this year’s world junior hockey championships, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I played college hockey and I said, ‘you know, I know how important these little rituals are’. And I said, ‘you know, I might just send him a case of doughnuts,’” Watt said.
Between the security box and the express shipping, the cost added up to nearly $300.
He considered sending Martin the doughnuts through the U.S., but with no Tim Hortons head office (or locations) in Minnesota, and no head office in nearby Michigan, Watt was left with little choice.
“So I said, ‘OK, I got a mission from God. I got to get these to him.’ You know, once I start I’m not going to give up.”
Watt tracked the package online and saw it quickly make its way to Nanaimo, then Vancouver and to FedEx’s hub in Memphis, where it seemed to get stuck.
After a frustrating go-round with FedEx’s automated customer service system, Watt finally spoke to a human, who said the issue could be with the FDA or due to a tariff.
“And then I check that it’s in some town in Minnesota I’d never heard of. And I go, ‘what’s it doing in there?’ And I got a hold of another guy, and again, the automated system. Finally got a live person, he goes, ‘FDA and tariffs’. He says they’ve rejected it.”
The couple was shocked and disappointed.
Elaine Tanner, Watt’s spouse, herself an Olympic medallist and Canadian Sports Hall of Famer, also knows how important a pre-game ritual can be. Growing up, her friend’s mother made great chocolate chip cookies.
“I had to have chocolate chip cookies before I went into the pool,” she said.
Watt had arranged for a Canadian reporter to receive the package and bring it to Martin, and said Team Canada PR were arranging for Martin to receive his doughnuts.
“I think it’s really a sign of the times. The Canadian and American relationship has changed,” he said. “In this day and age, in this world — a kind generous little act, like that, that they would do that.”
“It’s insane. It really shows the bigger picture beyond the doughnuts,” Tanner added. “It’s just the craziness that the world is in right now, especially Canada, the U.S., It’s just, it’s nuts.”
Although they don’t plan to travel to the U.S. any time soon, Tanner mentioned that they don’t hold it against the American people.
The couple have lived in the U.S. and have connections to the country through family and friends.
The returned package showed up on Jan. 3 and Watt plans to look into a refund. He was told several days ago that a FedEx manager would look into it and contact him, but he has heard nothing back so far.
Meanwhile, Watt and Tanner won’t let “the infamous doughnut caper” take away from their team spirit, and they continue to follow the World Juniors.
When they spoke to the PQB News on Jan. 4, they were looking forward to Canada’s semifinal game against Czechia.
“Hopefully the Canadian team will have more luck that we did with the doughnuts,” Tanner said, with a laugh.
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