Special moment for the Goring family
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This article was published 06/03/2020 (2069 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Shannon Goring-Alban recently returned to her home in East Kildonan after a trip to Uniondale, N.Y., where she stood at centre ice at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum with her father on Feb. 29, and watched as his New York Islanders jersey was raised to the rafters.
Butch Goring, known as the ‘final piece of the puzzle,’ helped the Islanders win four Stanley Cups after being traded to the team in March 1980 by the Los Angeles Kings. His number 91 was officially retired by the NHL team.
“It was surreal,” Goring-Alban said of the moment. “I didn’t have words to describe it. We’re standing on the ice and they start to raise the banner and out of this mist comes the Goring and 91. We were in awe watching it in silence and at one point I turned to my dad and just said ‘Wow’.’”
Goring-Alban was a child when her dad played in the NHL. Although young, she says she always felt a part of the team’s extended family.
“There was a family sense about it,” she said. “All of those guys hung out in the dressing room, and outside. We hung out as families when the guys went on the road. We went to other players’ houses. It was sleepovers at (goalie) Billy Smith’s house, who had sons my age, or at (team captain) Clark Gillies’, who had a daughter that was my age and two daughters my sister’s age.
“We would go to Bob Bourne’s, Duane Sutter’s, even the trainer’s house when the guys were on the road because the wives were all friends, the kids were all friends. We even went on vacation together.
“(Sports broadcaster) Jiggs McDonald’s daughter was the babysitter.”
Goring-Alban said she now marvels at what she witnessed.
“It wasn’t uncommon to go for dinner on a Saturday with other players’ families and you get people coming up to the table. I didn’t know until I was older that not everybody’s dad signed autographs at dinner or not everybody’s dad was on TV and gets a parade at the end of the year,” she said. “It wasn’t until much later that I understood how special that was.”
The Islanders organization flew Gorings family, including his mother, Audrey, to New York and made sure they were well taken care of.
“We arrived in New York to a party bus for 15 of us and the alumni, it was a such a classy weekend and well-done event that I’m just really glad that my kids got to be a part of it,” Alban said. “There are no words to describe the level of pride I had, just being so excited to be able to stand beside my dad at that moment.”
Goring started out playing hockey in St. Boniface. He won the Bill Masterton trophy and Lady Byng Memorial trophy for his outstanding sportsmanship in 1978 and won the Conn Smythe trophy, awarded to the most valuable player in the playoffs, in 1980 after helping the Isles win the first of four straight Stanley Cups. He now works as a colour commentator on Islanders television broadcasts.
Evan Comstock is a community correspondent for East Kildonan.
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