Player Spotlight: CJ Garcia
By: Stephanie Coratti, guelphstorm.com
“Everybody’s road towards what they want to do is different.”
That’s a fitting lesson, one of many that Walter Garcia has tried to instill in his son along the way.
For C.J. Garcia, it wasn’t stepping into skates days after learning to walk – an age old story many hockey players hold.
In fact, the now Guelph Storm captain wouldn’t officially meet the sport until the age of eight.
“There were some neighbours on the street here,” Walter, C.J.’s dad, explained of the beginning. “They took him, gave him some skates, and after C.J. went out and skated for the first time, they said, ‘This can’t be, this kid can’t be skating like that.’”
With the encouragement, and many games of road hockey, Garcia moved into minor hockey, playing houseleague to start.
“We were very busy with soccer,” Walter, a soccer player and coach himself, adding that it was C.J.’s first love before hitting the ice. “But we wanted to give it a try, and everything else is history.”
History that started off with immediate success, as Garcia would receive Most Valuable Player honours in his very first season, followed by coming incredibly close to making the Pickering Raiders Triple-AAA squad in only his second year in the sport.
“It’s been an upper climb from there,” Walter said of his son’s overall career. “It’s really because he fell in love with it right then.”
Even in the years before hockey, Garcia always had his sights set on one goal.
“C.J. always wanted to be a professional athlete,” Walter explained, offering that the influence of him playing soccer added to his son’s dream. “It started with soccer, but he had to give that up somewhere along the line because the passion for hockey just overwhelmed everything else.”
Not an uncommon aspiration for young boys, however, looking back to that one moment where you can see your kid very much in reach is something parents don’t forget.
“He was always athletically inclined, and his vision was really good – he could see the ice, he could read the game, even at a young age,” Walter remembered. “But it was this tournament when C.J. was with the [Markham] Waxers, and he was having a tough time, but when it came down to win or lose on that Sunday, C.J. just took it to another level.”
“That was my moment – I thought, ‘he loves it, he’s passionate about it… this kid has a good shot.’”
It’s that same passion that Walter sees pushing his son closer to his goal, now in his fourth major junior season.
“It hasn’t been all glorious,” Walter explained. “He’s had some bumps from injuries, and situations where the opportunities just not presenting itself.”
“But even when he comes home now and we talk about options, it’s always, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to be a professional hockey player, that’s my dream – that’s what I want to do.’”
Credit that determination to the character Garcia carries, both on and off the ice.
“He knows where he wants to be, and he knows how to embrace challenges and work with the successes,” Walter said. “It hasn’t always been an easy road, but he’s never followed the crowd – he has his own head on his shoulders.”
Now with over 150 games played in the OHL, registering over 30 points as a solid defenseman, Garcia, wearing the ‘C’ for the Storm after joining the club in January 2015, sees that opportunity is here.
“My first thoughts were I was going to a first class organization that can help me pursue my dream,” Garcia said of the trade that saw him sent to Guelph from the Barrie Colts.
For a father, though, it isn’t about points or a captaincy.
“Leaving home at the age of 15, it’s either a make or break kind of move,” Walter explained of what he’s most proud of in his son. “It’s a trying move, and I see how C.J. is mentally strong and how he can look at a situation and it’s always with the glass half full.”
Carrying that positive attitude through helping a young Storm squad this season, Garcia is only making a stronger case for that once four-year-old’s dream.
“He sees the next level,” Walter said. “He’s right there along that road.”
