The gift of hockey: Corner Brook man remembered for helping others fall in love with the sport

Ben Fitzgerald will never forget the day he joined Corner Brook minor hockey back in 1981, or the man whose kind gesture made it all possible: Cliff Greene, a longtime member of the area's hockey community who died on May 25.

Fitzgeraldwas 11years old then and spent a lot of time hanging around the rink. He loved the sport and liked to watch his friends play but knew that actually joining hockey himself was beyond his family's means.

"I didn't have access to it,"he told CBC News in a recent interview. "The only way it was going to happen was through an extension of kindness by somebody."

That kindness came from Greene.

Greene worked with theCorner Brook Minor Hockey Association for more than 40 yearsand helped hundreds of players fall in love with the sport.

"I believe it was Cliff's first year on the job and he happened to take notice of this scrawny, poor kid who was always hanging around the rink every day but never playing minor hockey," said Fitzgerald in a Facebook post following Greene's death.

One day Greeneand well-known Corner Brook Royals senior hockey player, Gilbert Longpre, came up to the youthwith a duffel bag. Longpre was retiring, and Greenehad convinced him to donate his gear.

Finally,Fitzgerald could get on the ice. The gear was slightly too bigbut to Fitzgeraldit was "glowing golden" with opportunity, he wrote in his Facebook post.

Hockey has been a part of Fitzgerald's life ever since. Now 51 years old, he continued to play minor hockey and moved on to the senior level. He's also made a career as acoach and has worked with everyone from kids skating for the first time to retired NHLers.Fitzgerald alsorunshis own private hockey training camps.

Describing Greene as a humble and quiet man who helped without ever being asked, Fitzgerald hopes he can give back a fraction of what Greene gave to him.

"I've been everywhere I could possibly dream of all because of the sport of hockey and a kind act," he said in a text to CBC News.

Fitzgerald is not the only one who feels this way.

In an organization in which the executive can change every coupleof years, Greene was the stalwart. Current president Darren Harivieux saidthe ripple effect of Greene's kindness toward so many people over his four decades with the group will last a very long time.

Greene workedwith Corner Brook Minor Hockey right up until three weeks before his death. He was67 years old.

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