Guelph teacher revels in magic of former student’s Stanley Cup party

By Joe Tersigni – ITHACA, NY – It has been a matter of pride and honour to stay in touch with and to follow the professional hockey career of my former Our Lady of Lourdes student Dustin Brown.

I taught so many fine students during my career. A few truly impacted my life and those of so many others. One such shining star is Dustin, captain of the Stanley Cup-winning Los Angeles Kings.

This past weekend, my wife Elizabeth, her mother Maureen Murphy and I travelled to Dustin’s hometown of Ithaca, N.Y. for a Stanley Cup party. More than 300 family and friends were packed into a quaint pub called the Boatyard Grill on the shores of Lake Cayuga for the event.

There was great food, lots to drink and a table filled with a mound of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. Each was topped with Dustin’s number 23 in icing. Most importantly, the Cup celebration gave family and friends a chance to reconnect with their seldom-seen, but beloved son, and to see and touch the Stanley Cup.

For most of us, attending a Stanley Cup party is a dream. Lord Stanley’s guest list is reserved for the elite of the hockey world, their family and friends. Dustin and I have stayed in touch since he graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes high school, so I was thrilled to be invited.

Like everyone at the party, we were all waiting for the trumpet blast, or some kind of hint that Dustin had arrived. This was my first Cup party and I was dying with anticipation. We had arrived a few minutes early to scout out seats for the best view.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dustin. There had been no big announcement, no ballyhoo or signal to let everyone know … just Dustin walking into the pub carrying the “Holy Grail.” This entrance was so typical of the husky teenaged kid that first walked into my classroom at Lourdes high school some 14 years ago. Dustin was never a show-off.

To meet him, you would never know that he is a two-time Cup champion who has received many honours and awards from the NHL for leadership and his extensive charity work for kids in Los Angeles.

His quiet, humble and unpretentious character makes him a respected leader for so many in the hockey world and in Ithaca. During the party, Dustin waded among the crowd to stop at every table to thank people for coming. He is such a great role model for youth today.

I sometimes think people forget that Dustin, the youngest in his family, was hardly a teenager when he left home in 2001 to arrive in a new city, and a new country, to play for the Guelph Storm in pursuit of his dream of becoming an NHL player. He was still developing physically, mentally and socially.

He was never loud or boisterous in my history or civics class. But he was an excellent student who was never afraid to defend his country in arguments over Canadian-American relations. I remember a class discussion about the Canadian national anthem when none of my students could tell me when Canada actually got our anthem. Dustin raised his hand and was able to recite the American Pledge of Allegiance word for word.

I always chuckle when hockey icon Don Cherry speaks about Brown. When the Kings won the Cup this year, Cherry said: “Dustin Brown, he might be an American, but he played for the Guelph Storm, that’s why he plays the game like a good Ontario boy!”

Dustin was so focused on the importance of his education that he wanted to graduate from both his home high school in Ithaca and Our Lady of Lourdes in Guelph. He did it. Few Jr. A hockey players can claim a feat such as that.

Dustin would be the first to admit he could never have achieved his dreams without the support from family and friends. There was his dad and all those early-morning hockey practice runs. There was the insistence of his devoted and loving mom, Sharan, that if he was going to play in the OHL, she would only allow him to sign with a team that would not be too far from Ithaca. Sharan never missed a Parent’s Night in Guelph.

You could not ask for a more caring billet home for Dustin in Guelph than that of Guelph sportscaster Paul Osborne and his wonderful family. Lourdes staff and especially guidance counsellor Donna Rawbone all had a hand in guiding this special student athlete. The Guelph Storm Hockey Club also fits into this successful recipe as a team that took the seed of a young kid’s ambitions and developed him into a person and player who could be a first-class NHL leader and star.

Nicole, Dustin’s wife, is the most special and precious gift in his life. His first love, his high school sweetheart, she is the anchor in the Brown family. Nicole is an exceptional and adoring mother to their four children — Jake, Mason, Cooper and baby Mackenzie.

I have tried several times to get Dustin to come to Guelph to accept the Lourdes National Leadership Award and each time he declined because, after a gruelling hockey schedule, time with family was always a top priority. How do you trump that motivation?

Dustin is a great hockey player, and a terrific dad and husband. In the midst of the party crowd, Dustin, Nicole and their four kids gathered around the Stanley Cup for a picture. In what will become a treasured family moment, Dustin picked up baby Mackenzie and gently sat her down into Lord Stanley’s Cup.

I won’t forget the moment and all that led up to it.

 

Guelph resident Joe Tersigni is a retired teacher who taught Dustin Brown at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School.