Page 20 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 24

20
By Ashley March
o say the Gary Grant’s life
Trevolved around sport,
and most notably hockey, is an
understatement. “I just got off the
ice three years ago,” Grant says
with a smile. “Doctor’s orders.”
His name is synonymous with
minor hockey in the Cornwall
area as he had been a part of the
coaching staff for Seaway Valley
“AA” for quite a few years. “I
was coaching Midget with the
Cornwall Hockey Association
and I was actually going to pack
it in,” Grant recalls. The heat from
various parents surrounding his
coaching was getting a little too hot
to handle. “Mark Desnoyers asked
me to come and help him out with
Seaway Valley. He said ‘Gary,
there’s good and bad everywhere
you go, those people are not worth
it.’ So I went out and don’t regret
it for a second.”
As I walked into Grant’s house,
a wall of fame adorned with his remembers one tournament fi nal his hands up in laughter and “I don’t get it. It’s free babysitting
and many others pictures filled that took place between themselves continues on. “That darn incident
up one of his walls. A salute to and the Inkerman Rockets. “We cost us the game!”
the good old days and the hard were down 2-1 and needed to kill
work that went into helping local off a penalty as Dalt was in the
hockey thrive. Grant’s first foray
into hockey started way back in the
1950’s when he would suit up for
the “Our Citizens of Tomorrow”
squad. Along with Eddie Rowe,
Dalt Wells and Tubby Legault,
they made a name for themselves
in local hockey. “It was a different
era back then. We had to use phone
books for pads!” Grant vividly
sportsenergynews.com
Presents...
The Games are Over:
Gary Grant
Grant’s hockey exploits would
take him around upper New York,
box. Next time we know, “Tubby” eastern Ontario and northeastern
takes a penalty as well and gets Quebec. By the time the 70’s came
thrown in there with him!” Grant around, Grant even threw his hat
laughs and shakes his head. “But into the local fastball scene and
that’s not the funny part. I’m about took up pitching. Between being
the take a faceoff and the crowd on the fi eld in the summer and
is going nuts for some reason. on the ice in the winter, he had a
We turn around and here Dalt and busy schedule. It was his love of
Tubby are fighting with each other coaching however, that made it all
in the penalty box!” Grant throws worth it. “You know, you don’t do
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it for the praise.” Grant sits back
in his chair. “You do it for the
love of the game.” Until this very
day Grant still gets stopped on the
street from former players wanting
to thank him for his guidance.
In 1993, Grant underwent a
quadruple bypass which caused
him to stick around home a bit more
often then he’d like. Coaching the
home games for Seaway Valley
still got him out to the rink and he
became an integral part to many
players’ success. Players such
as Brett Lauzon, Joey Sullivan,
Derek Duchesne, Tony Joseph
and Scott Pearson got drafted
to Major Junior with the help of
Grant. The coaching game has
changed a lot though. “There’s a
lot of good people, ex-referees,
ex-players who want to coach
but don’t because of parents and
the way they threaten. It’s a lot to
take on nowadays.” Grant doesn’t
understand the mentality of some.
for you!”
At the end of our visit, Grant
leans back with a smile on his
face. “I could sit here and talk
forever about those days.” You
can tell he’s thankful for the sport
that has given him so much and for
the life lessons he’s learned. “You
can learn more just sitting around
talking about the sport and the
players; how it was then people
sitting in the stands watching the
game. You can’t teach that.”