OTTAWA -- Jeremy Roenick stopped, almost stunned.
He was speechless.
Jeremy Roenick is never speechless. In fact, when he should be speechless, he says even more.
But on this day, at the Ottawa Convention Centre, he was draped in a blanket of humbleness. As he met and held a two-year-old boy, he realized just how much impact a hockey player can have on someone. He realized that when you are a person of privilege, as he has been for so long, that one simple gesture – a gift of time and effort – can last in a family for generations.
In the early 1990s, Jeremy Roenick was a rising star with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was emerging as an NHL star. He was a power forward who could do it all. He could skate, shoot, score, pass, hit, and he was willinbg to do whatever his team needed him to do.
Al Connelly was a kid playing minor hockey who loved Jeremy Roenick. He loved Jeremy Roenick so much that his mom sat down and wrote a letter to Roenick via the Blackhawks. Her dream, she said, was that her son could meet his hockey hero.
Jeremy Roenick didn’t have to make that dream come true. In fact, hockey players are always asked to give up their own personal time to create special memories. Most do, but there are boundaries and limitations. Jeremy Roenick decided that he needed to disregard those boundaries.
“I was about 16 at that time,” said Laura Conway at the NHL All-Star FanFest at the Ottawa Convention Centre. “Jeremy Roenick phoned the house. I answered the phone, and the person on the other end asked for my little brother. I asked who it was. He said ‘Jeremy Roenick.’ I nearly fell to the floor.”
Jeremy Roenick met with Al and his family. He talked to him encouragingly and he gave him an autographed stick blade and signed a jersey for him. But aside from the memorabilia, Jeremy Roenick gave up the most precious thing a hockey superstar could give to a young fan and his family. He gave his time. He gave his effort. He showed appreciation. So few in professional sports make that effort and cross the lines that Jeremy Roenick did that day.
And now, nearly a generation later, the Conway family’s love for Jeremy Roenick takes another turn. On Saturday, Laura Conway, the girl who answered the phone, was sitting with Al’s toddler son and the little boy’s mother, waiting to meet Jeremy Roenick. She was shaking with excitement. Roenick was among the NHL stars who would be signing autographs at the Panini booth. The company was among the exhibitors at the FanFest, as they promoted their brands of trading cards and hockey stickers and albums.
As Jeremy Roenick entered the room and walked past the long line of people, he met everyone with a big smile and asked how everyone was doing. So many guests at autograph shows whisk in and whisk out of an appearance. They shy away from the type of gesture that Roenick had just made. For some stars, an appearance is functional, obligatory, and a few thousand easy bucks in an afternoon. For Jeremy Roenick, meeting fans is a rewarding and poignant experience.
As he took his place in the private signing room at the Ottawa Convention Centre, he had no idea of how humbling his autograph appearance was about to become.
“We’re going to be in there in about 15 minutes,” Laura said, excitedly. “This is going to be so incredible.”
And, as the minutes crawled by and time moved as if it was crawling slowly through a desert, Laura Conway, her one-and-a-half-year-old nephew, and the boy’s mother, went to meet Jeremy Roenick.
Laura told Jeremy Roenick who she was. She reminded him of the phone call and the visit and the autograph.
“Jeremy,” she said. “This is Jeremy Conway. He is named after you. His father was 27 years old when he was born. You wore number 27. You are his hero and you made such an impact on him. He named his little boy after you.”
Jeremy Roenick looked at the boy. He swallowed. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. Jeremy Roenick is never quite sure what to say. Ever.
“We had a great talk,” Laura Conway said. “Al was working. He wasn’t able to get the time off to come. It would have been so nice if he could have met Jeremy Roenick again, after all these years, but it was still incredible. All he kept telling me before we came to the show was that he couldn’t believe it. His hero was about to meet his son – his son that was named after him.”
Ten or 15 minutes is not a long time. It’s three songs on the radio, maybe with a commercial thrown in. It’s half of a sitcom on TV. It’s not even a quarter in football or a period in hockey. But, for the Conway family, that 10 or 15 minutes is going to last a lifetime. It was time enough to tell Jeremy Roenick how much of a difference his selfless gesture nearly two decades ago made in the life of a little boy, who had grown up to become a man. It was time enough to snap a few photos that will forever be treasured by a family. Laura talked about the day when little Jeremy grows up, and maybe his kids will get to meet Jeremy Roenick, too.
At the end of the visit, the rendered-speechless hockey star figured out what to say.
“You made my day,” he said to the Conway family. “You have no idea. You’ve really made my day.”