83-year-old Rothesay goalie still a 'student of the game'
Don MacGowan credits integrity, competitiveness, and his wife's home cooking for long, active life
It's 15 minutes before hockey practice starts at the qPlex rec centre in Quispamsis.
Grizzled older guys are filtering in, dropping their bags, shouting hellos and razzing each other. There's a competitive charge in the air.
Don MacGowan stays quiet. He methodically puts on his goalie pants, laces up his vintage circa-1970s skates and fastens the leather straps on his beat-up leg pads.
"These pads were owned by my son," MacGowan said. "He's 60 — just a kid."
MacGowan, a goaltender for the 65-plus men's pickup team, turns 84 in a few months.
At an age when many of his peers are slowing down, he still shows up for hockey practice three times a week.
The Rothesay resident is "an inspiration to our group," said teammate Glen Jones. "Once you see him on the ice — he's up, and down, and on his knees, and he gets up.
We're amazed at his ability."
The local hockey community all know him, said, Jim Magee, who looks after the goalies at the qPlex.
"I've had people that have played with him through the years say, 'really, he's still playing? I played with him 25 years ago!' They can't believe he's still on the ice."
Seventy-one years after he first picked up a hockey stick, MacGowan credits his teammates, his competitive spirit, and his wife's good cooking for his long tenure in the rink.
A lot may have changed over the years.
One thing that has remained constant is MacGowan's dedication to the game, and to his teammates.
Lifelong athlete
MacGowan is a man of many achievements.
He and Merle, his wife of 60 years, have five children. He served in the Canadian Army from 1948 to 1965. He had a successful law career for 54 years.
"I believe I can fairly say that I was respected and admired in my practice, and the knowledge I brought to it, and the attitude that I exhibited to other lawyers," he said. "I tried to be a mentor to people that came through our office."
But athletics have been a constant. "I enjoy competition," he said. "I enjoy doing well."
Growing up in Hampton, and as a university student at Mount Allison University, he curled, played soccer, rugby, football — and, of course, hockey.
The 1955 Mount Allison yearbook describes his career with the varsity men's team, and states that "in his second year as Varsity goaltender [MacGowan] was a big factor in the team going to the Maritime finals."
Goalie equipment, he said, has gotten a lot better since his college days. "When I was playing for Mount A, I had a pair of pads that were tiny little things," he said. "I didn't have blockers, trappers, helmets."
"There has been a great deal of advancement in things. A lot of changes, for the better."
'I can feel myself fulfilled'
At age 65, after playing for Rothesay old-timer's league and other rec groups for over 20 years, MacGowan swore he was done playing.
But after "about five years, and I missed it so much that I went back at it," he said.
He's been playing ever since.
A few years ago, he had a meniscus cartilage problem that required surgery.
"I was back in the ice within a week," he said.
These days, however, he's getting a bit more tired, and this was officially his last season.
"If I've played well … I feel satisfied," he said. "If I don't, I don't complain about it, but I don't necessarily feel fulfilled if I haven't played up to the standard that I want to meet.
"I am very pleased that most days when I leave that sheet of ice, I can feel myself fulfilled.
"I have done my best, and nobody can really criticize my play."
Home cooking and integrity
MacGowan said he owes a lot to his wife, Merle.
"She raised five children while I've been playing hockey. She doesn't go to the hockey games, though. She encourages me to go and play and keep on playing."
"I haven't killed him yet," said Merle.
When asked how he trains, MacGowan laughed.
"I don't," he said. "I just go out and play hockey as best I know how. I'm not a person who goes to the gym to work out like that. When hockey season starts each year, I simply put on the pads and go out."
"This is not a good way to do it, I guess, but it has worked for me."
Nor does he fuss too much about food.
"My diet is whatever my wife puts on the table for me," he said. "Which is good food."
The most important quality in an athlete, he said, is "integrity."
"Be fair and honest with yourself, and with your teammates, and your opponents," he said.
"Don't try to take advantage."
Shows up, no complaints
Bob Holder has played against MacGowan for 30 years.
He likes to tease MacGowan by hiding a softball in his helmet before every practice. Holder showed up to Wednesday's practice with MacGowan's name taped on the back of his jersey.
While MacGowan is playing "a little bit easier now than what he was years ago," Holder said, "he's still got a good glove. He's probably glad he's going. I'm just as glad, because I won't have to try and beat him again.
"To make sure he's not coming back I might even carry his gear out to his car and put it in his trunk. … He's a student of the game."
Locker-room banter aside, the guys treat MacGowan with good humour and respect. On Friday — his last official game with the team — they presented him with a silver goalie stick, a nod to the NHL tradition of presenting a silver stick to players of 1,000 games.
"He shows up three days a week, he never says anything, he has no complaints," said Magee. "You can't replace people like that."
Honour to the game
Seeing MacGowan play "stimulates you," Magee said. "to say 'hey, down the road, we can do that hopefully.'"
"It's exceptional."
MacGowan feels the same way about his teammates.
"They have been very fair with me, very honest with me," he said.
"I have told them that I will finish playing hockey when I don't feel that I can do it honour."
"I still think I can pretty well do it honour."