'Crazy how the mind works,' says Matt Connors (6 photos)

Matt Connors was never so glad to hear sirens as he was as he lay wet and hypothermic in the bottom of his canoe late on Friday morning.

Not even half an hour before his wife, Melissa, had yelled, 'Oh my God! Iggi is in the water!'

That morning temperatures had fallen to record-breaking lows (-20 C) but Connors tore outside onto the ice of Trout Lake barefoot and without a coat. 

"Crazy how the mind works," he said. 

"I went out on the ice, but it was cracking all around me," he said. "I told Melissa to run to the garage and get the ladder. I then saw my canoe sticking out of the snow."

Connors pushed the canoe across the ice, crouching low over it, hoping his dog would be able to climb in once it was close enough.

"He couldn't lift his paws onto it.  His head was barely above water and he couldn't move his arms," Connors said. "He started to flounder, so I dove into the canoe and shimmied to the front." 

Using his arms and fists, Connors broke the ice around his struggling dog.

"Luckily, he didn't fight me. I managed to get him in the boat," he said. "I don't know how I did it without flipping us, he weighs 100 pounds."

When Connors got Iggi into the canoe he started to realize things were much more complicated than he had anticipated they would get.

Running outside barefoot and without a coat Conners had clearly been intent on rescuing his dog but now that he had the dog in the canoe with him things, as he said, really started to get 'hairy'.

"He was freaking out, jumping all over the boat."

With the stern of the canoe still on the ice it was rocking back and forth wildly, precariously close to dumping both Connors and Iggi back into the freezing water.

By that time, Connors was soaked and starting to slip into hypothermia.

"This is when it first dawned on me that we were in a very precarious situation. He almost capsized us several times."

His only option was to lay in the bottom of the canoe to stabilize it and hope for help.

"I was spent," he said. "I couldn't feel my hands and I could barely move my arms."

As reported earlier by SooToday's Kenneth Armstrong, The Marine Unit of the Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services used traditional cold-water rescue methods to pull Connors and Iggi to safety.

The Aweres Fire Department were first on scene and called the Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services Marine Unit for mutual aid.

The Sault OPP were also on the scene as the rescue was conducted.

By Saturday morning Connors was home, warm and had posted a link to SooToday's story on Facebook, telling friends and family how embarrassed he was that he had to be rescued.

Saultites may recognize Matt Connors, a true life Saultlebrity, from his roles in Compulsion, The Road to Tophet or Swearnet: The Movie.

(Photo: Matt Connors and Iggi warm up and recover after their harrowing experience. Photo courtesy of Melissa Connors)