A small-town kid living big hockey dreams, that’s what embodies Bristol Que. native Darcy Findlay.
Growing up, Findlay remembers hanging out at the Shawville Arena with the local Junior B team. Looking back on it, he was essentially an extension of the coaching staff, decorating the dressing room, unpacking equipment and helping the team get ready for games.
“We were always at the rink,” said Findlay. “I think that hockey is a big thing for everybody in a small town, right? But we definitely spent a lot of time, a lot of hours, in the rink.”
His grandfather worked closely with the Junior team, providing him inside access to the club – quite an exclusive privilege for the young hockey fanatic.
As a kid, he watched almost every game and loved every minute of it. Without knowledge of anything other than the NHL as the highest level in hockey, the local Junior B players were heroes to him, inspiring him to be like them some day.
“At the time, I didn’t know any different,” said Findlay. “Junior B was the only thing that was in Shawville, at the time. It was almost like the level below the NHL. For any kid in town, we didn’t know a whole lot more than that.”
Whether he was out on the ice, or playing ball hockey in the streets with rollerblades, Findlay was in love with the game, from a young age, as he was constantly surrounded by it, everywhere he went.
Growing up, his grandparents were his biggest inspiration and he largely credits them for his unrelenting passion and dedication to the game, as they exposed him to it more than anyone.
“You know, it was just the game itself and all that it entails,” said Findlay. “Whether it’s meeting people or the experiences you get to have, the family aspect of it and the success that it brought us.”
Playing minor hockey in Shawville, Findlay admits he never imagined making it big in the game that he loves. But that all changed, after a successful season in Midget AAA with the Gatineau Intrepide, which made him realize that hockey, perhaps had something in store for him as a career.
After receiving offers to play Junior hockey in the Quebec Junior AAA Hockey League (QJAAAHL) he knew he had a shot to make something out of it – a dream every hockey player aspires to growing up.
While playing Junior hockey, for a successful four-year stint, in both Ontario and Quebec, for the Cornwall Colts and the College Champlain Cougars respectively, Findlay began receiving scholarship offers from numerous Canadian and American universities with well-reputed hockey programs.
After mulling his options, he committed to Bemidji State University in Minnesota, a small but budding hockey program at the time. Findlay felt enticed mostly by the academics they offered, considering he was intent on becoming a teacher, after his hockey career.
“I talked to a few different schools and explored some options and one of those schools was Bemidji.”
He fondly recalls the challenges of being a freshman playing against upperclassmen, balancing hockey and academics and most of all helping put a small school like Bemidji State on the college hockey map with a Cinderella run to the schools only appearance in the Frozen Four.
“We put a small, small school on the map and the program’s really flourished since then,” said Findlay.
Playing against current NHLer’s, including the likes of T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals, Mike Gardiner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild and countless more, Findlay recalls it as a cool experience to be a part of.
“You could look at pretty much every [NHL] roster and pick out names,” said Findlay.
After four years at Bemidji State, Findlay went on to play one year professionally in the North American Hockey League (LNAH) for the Cornwall River Kings. However, that’s when he knew his playing career was unfortunately drawing to a close.
“I realized I probably wasn’t going to play [in the NHL] and I probably could’ve kicked around in the minors for a bit,” said Findlay. “But, I just got on with it. I was tired of being on the bus and being away. At least, I thought I was.”
He recalls his playing experiences as some of the best times of his life and says that nothing will ever completely replace the sense of playing hockey at a high level.
“That’s something no one can ever take away from you,” said Findlay. “It was a great experience and I learned a lot from it. Those were the best coaches I’ve ever had, which has helped me become the coach that I am now.”
After his playing career ended, he took a year off of hockey and just focused on teaching. But the next year, he felt eager to jump back into it. That’s when he got his first coaching gig as an assistant with the Kanata Lazers of the CCHL. In just over three years, Findlay rose from assistant coach with the Lazers to being the team’s head coach, then head coach for the Nepean Raiders in the same league and since then he’s moved on to even greater things.
Thankfully, 2019 has been a particularly big year for Findlay.
After being chosen to coach at Team Canada’s U-17 selection camp in Calgary, he was offered an opportunity to coach Team Ontario at the upcoming Canada games, as well as Team Canada East in the world Junior A Challenge, in Bonnyville, Alta.
This past summer, he received a more permanent and more stable, dream-like offer: to become an associate coach for the Flint Firebirds in the OHL. Like many of his previous hockey opportunities, it’s a job he’s never even dreamed of having.
“It’s something that I would’ve never thought would happen and I’m just grateful for it and it’s exciting every day.”
Now in the OHL, as a full-time coach Findlay feels like he can finally breathe and enjoy every moment. For the first time since becoming a coach, he doesn’t have to juggle teaching high schoolers and coaching full-time and that’s comforting to him.
As for his future plans, Findlay says he doesn’t really have any set in stone, except for doing his best to grow as a coach and hopefully move up within the Flint Firebirds organization.
“Stuff just happens, you don’t really plan it,” said Findlay. “I guess it’s just really the love of the game and coaching especially. I realize that I’m fortunate to be good at it. It could be maybe my second chance.”
by J.D. Potié
