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Finding Yourself

By: Melissa Monette

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Vince with Joe Talbot.

The Ottawa 67's have seen many players come and go.  Some have stayed around for years, stretching from their rookie year, all the way until their year of overage play and some players stay only a few years, months, weeks or even days.  No matter how much time they stayed for, or how many games they suited wearing the barber poll stripes, each player leaves a mark.  Some marks are bigger then others, but one thing is certain, time does not constitute to how much of an impact one player can have on a team or how much of an impact the team can have on him. 

 

Playing for just eighteen games, in the 1999-2000 season, Vince Grant's experience with the team went beyond the record books.  Playing in Ottawa helped rejuvenate his faith in the game, the coaches and the person he is.

Before coming to Ottawa in 1999, Vince played in the NCAA at Ohio State University for three years.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association, more commonly known as the NCAA, (previously the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States), was founded officially by Chancellor Henry MacCracken from New York University on December 28, 1905.  It was renamed the NCAA in late 1910.  It was created to provide a competent, safe and educational way for students to get a higher education while playing the sport that they loved. 

 

Being part of the NCAA, Ohio State University had everything that a young athletic student would want.  Vince's mind was made up the second he stepped on to the campus.  

 

"The Ohio State's campus is by far incomparable to any other campus.  It is amazing and the level of hockey in the NCAA is phenomenal.  Everything just looked so perfect; so perfect that I forget that there are more aspects to a team then just the facilities," Vince said. 

 

Despite Vince's will to get a higher education while playing at the same time, he was not happy at Ohio State.  In his rookie year, he led the team in scoring but when he broke his arm, something changed. 

 

"When I came back, it was a whole different story, and I was not happy there anymore," he said. "If you are thinking about going the NCAA route, evaluate the staff and institution before you make your decision," Vince recommended. 

"The coaching was terrible and I lost almost all faith in the hockey system.  I lost trust and confidence in coaches and then I decided to try over and give it another shot." 

 

After talking to Ottawa 67's head coach, Brian Kilrea, Vince made the unwavering decision to play for the number one team and coach in the Ontario Hockey League. "I was told that I would be able to play, but that short of a miracle I would more than likely be traded because Ottawa would then have four overagers," Vince commented. 

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Vince in 1999

The 67's had four overagers to deal with: Matt Zultek, Kevin Malcolm, Dan Tessier and Vince.  One of them had to be traded by the trade deadline.  With Zultek out due to a knee injury, Vince thought that he had a good shot at staying on the team, but alas, Brian Kilrea made his choice and Vince was sent to the Windsor Spitfires

 

Leaving the team with five goals, fourteen assists, for nineteen points and only four penalty minutes, Vince had showed that he could help the team and play responsibly, but it just was not enough. 

 

"I felt as if I had given it my all and I really thought that I could have a shot at staying with Ottawa.  I guess I knew deep down that I would be the one to go," Vince confessed. 

 

No matter what happened, Vince's time in Ottawa changed him.  "I can honestly say that playing in Ottawa was one of the best moves I have ever made," his choice to come to Ottawa was made so memorable by mainly one thing: the coaching. 

 

"Brian Kilrea is such a stand-up, stellar man and he is the best coach I have ever had.  Coming from Ohio, where I played for John Makell, to here with Brian, was like day and night. Brain Kilrea is by far one of the only reasons that I gained my trust in coaches back."  With Ohio behind him Vince could look forward and he learned what a truly good coach was all about. 

 

"Playing for Ottawa I learned that I was not crazy and what a good coach is.  It gave me faith in the hockey system again because it was all seeming so political to me at that point, I needed a change."

 

With the Windsor Spitfires Vince played thirty games, had ten goals, twelve assists (thirty points) and ten penalty minutes.  The following season, he took a spot on the Amarillo Rattlers in Texas, to play professional hockey and make money.  After a while, he felt as if something was missing. 

 

"I became disgruntled and felt as if I was missing part of the big picture.  I would play and make money and play some more; I wanted more then that," Vince said.  After some friends of his told him that he should try going back to school, Vince decided that maybe it would be his best bet to take up schooling again. 

 

"I took at look at myself and realized that I did not want to be thirty years old and playing hockey for a living.  It works for a lot of guys but I wanted more then that because I knew that there was more to life then hockey and I wanted to see it for myself.  I wanted a career," Vince admitted.

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University of Ottawa Gee Gees

After deciding, Vince headed back to Canada and took a year away from hockey.  He went back to school and studied to earn a degree in sociology. 

 

"A University degree is so important to me.  I would not feel fulfilled without it," Vince said.  With his degree, Vince hopes to join the Ottawa Police Force.  He does volunteer work with the homeless at Christmas time preparing gift baskets and helping out in the community when he can.  This past year, he decided that he should take one more stab at hockey. 

 

"I kind of gave up on hockey for a whole year.  I missed it and I wanted to see if I could still do it and if I could play at that caliber of hockey."  With that in mind, Vince suited up to play for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. 

 

"This was my last year of hockey and I know that I will miss it, but I have other things I can do now," he said with a smile.  "It is so important for me to do what makes me happy and being a police officer is what I want to do to make me happy."

 

Not only did Vince prove to himself that he could play hockey still, he made the CIS Second All-Star team and was one of the top leading scores on the Gee-Gees this past season. 

      
            The key to being successful as a person lies in the art of finding who you are.  No matter if it comes from playing sports, earning a degree at University, writing, reading, volunteering or travelling, it is important to find it and hold on to it. 
 
           When Vince joined the Ottawa 67's in 1999, no one, including himself, could have imagined the impact that it would have on him or his choices to come.  When he played in Texas, no one could have dreamed that it would set him on the path that he still leads today. 
 
          The impact that a team can have on a player goes far beyond the stats and record books.  It changes who they are and who they will be.  For Vince, it was all for the best.