Chauffeur for Max Kaminsky tells his tale
Woodstock recognizes Jake Muzzin and Kings blueliner gives back to hometown
By Mark Schadenberg
After
disembarking from the bucket of a fire truck after a parade in his
honour in his hometown with the Stanley Cup this past Sunday, the
local 25-year-old Los Angeles Kings blueliner was on stage outside
the community complex to listen to the official declaration of Jake
Muzzin Day and also receive a key from the city from Mayor Pat
Sobeski, and to also receive a commemorative WMHA jersey from
association president Mike Collins, and drink chocolate milk from the
famous Cup.
The
milk was fulfilling a promise made to Liz Wismer on the Heart FM
morning show as this is The Dairy Capital of Canada.
The
parade and surrounding festivities were coordinated by the City of
Woodstock (Brad Janssen, community complex staff, fire department,
police force, Downtown BIA, local media, and recreation advisory
committee all did their part) to place Jake on his deserved pedestal
as the first-ever Stanley Cup champ from Woodstock.
It's
an astounding accomplishment. It truly is local history.
In
return, Jake thanked the community for its loyalty and wanted to give
back in some fashion, besides simply sharing his day with the Cup
with his hometown. One way Jake most certainly gave back to the
community was a personal donation of $5,000 he quietly made to the
Alf Langdon memorial Play Hockey Fund. Dollars are directed to
families who have difficulty paying Woodstock minor hockey
registration fees and its committee also collects used equipment for
local youngsters. The Langdon family most certainly needs to receive recognition for
its efforts for the past 30+ years to local hockey.
As
the '14 NHL playoff bracket evolved, Woodstock became increasingly
more Los Angeles Kings fans as Jake's club fell behind 3-0 in the
opening round to San Jose, but won 4 in row, then dispatched
cross-town rival Anaheim, eliminated the defending champions from The
Windy City, and won the Cup in 5 games over the Rangers of The Big
Apple.
I
certainly lost many good hours of sleep watching West Coast hockey
this past season. The Kings have been among my favourites since the
Triple Crown line of Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor. I actually did not like the Bruce NcNall era of Wayne Gretzky in
Hollywood.
I
gained my fond admiration for Jake – as has been written about
previously – as I could truly sense his dedication and internal
fortitude of bouncing back from a significant back injury even before
his OHL rookie season with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and then
rehab his way back (pun intended) to be drafted by the Penguins in
2007. Somehow the Pittsburgh establishment decided not to offer Jake
a contract before the 2009 draft (Clubs have 2 years to sign their
picks or they re-enter the entry draft), so Jake eventually became a
free agent after not getting drafted (for a second time) that
off-season.
Instead
of lumbering into an overage OHL year of regret and disappointment in
09-10 with the Greyhounds, Jake stepped it up and would be named the
OHL's most outstanding defenceman, and thus having his name engraved
on the Max Kaminsky Trophy alongside now teammate Drew Doughty
(2008), plus the well-known monikers of Denis Potvin, Chris Pronger,
Al MacInnis, Larry Murphy, Brad Marsh, Rick Green, Craig Hartsburg,
Marc Staal, Bryan Berard, Brian Campbell, and more recently Dougie
Hamilton and Ryan Ellis.
My
background role as an OHL broadcaster for the London Knights permits
me the opportunity to follow closely the careers of many talented
hockey players, beginning when they are still only 16 years old. As a
quick example, one of my 'running comments' among the Rogers TV crew
after a long live TV interview I just conducted is to say, “Well,
he's no Peter Holland.” I interviewed the now Maple Leafs forward
Holland for almost 15 minutes on live TV during the Under-17 world
challenge in London a number of years ago. The seemingly never-ending
conversation occurred because we had a time block to fill, but also
because the young hockey player was such an eloquent and well-spoken
teenager we just continued and continued.
Someday
I will write about more junior hockey memories.
With
my connections at the OHL, I contacted the brass to request the
almost-historic Max Kaminsky Trophy for Jake Muzzin Day. You never
know who has which week off during the off-season, so my emails
circulated through the likes of Paul Krotz, Joe Birch, and Herb
Morell (pictured), the league administrator who keeps the schedule moving like a
well-polished machine. As they say in physics, an object in motion
tends to stay in motion, but there are many organizational people who
have made the OHL the greatest league for developing NHL hockey
players.
As
it turns out Morell, who I also know as the statistician for
InterCounty baseball (IBL; London Majors, Brantford Red Sox and the
other Toronto Maple Leafs), had an assigned day at the MasterCard
Centre of Hockey Excellence in Etobicoke (Also home of the Toronto
Maple Leafs and Lakeshore Lions arena), so Herb was kind enough to
bring the Max Kaminsky hardware to his house, which was most
certainly a closer drive for me to transport the polished and shined
trophy to The Friendly City.
Today
(July 29), I returned the trophy to Bill Wellman and the vault in
Etobicoke. The trophy was lying on the back seat of my RAV4 with two
seat belts, and wrapped in several shopping bags, blankets and
towels. When I arrived at the 4-plex arena on Kipling (north of the
Lakeshore and south of the QEW), I entered the wrong door and quickly
realized I was at the Leafs offices and training facility and not the public foyer. I believe it was highly-ranked prospect Stuart Percy eating lunch who I briefly chatted with. Back in the parking lot, I was soon directed through two sets of security fences to the actual front door
where Mr Wellman soon arrived with a cart.
I'm
a full-time Realtor. I tell folks real estate sales is the real job
that puts groceries in my food cart, but also as a long-time media
person, I continue to admire high-level athletes and enjoy being a
person who provides publicity to those who deserve their well-earned
recognition. Congrats again, to Jake Muzzin
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion
. . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
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