80-year-old goalie stays forever young
“I used to be a goaler ... now I play in nets,” Ron Daley says.
But the Dorval, Que., resident has no plans to hang up his goalie pads any time soon, even though he turned 80 on Nov. 2.
“Everybody I know who plays hockey loves the game, just like me, and would love to play as long as they can,” Daley said over lunch before playing in his weekly Monday afternoon game at the Dorval Arena, where the average age is about 65. “If they let them play on crutches, they’d probably still be playing.
“I can’t see why I would stop,” he added. “Even if people didn’t want me in nets, I could probably go play forward or defence.”
Daley was a defenceman as a kid in Montreal, but when he went to try out for the senior team at D’Arcy McGee High School in Grade 10, they already had plenty of defencemen and no goaltender.
“So I said: ‘I’ll go play goal,’” Daley recalled. He has been in goal ever since. Back in his high school days, the D’Arcy McGee team practised and played home games at the Forum, so Daley often got to watch the Canadiens practise and would keep a close eye on goalie Bill Durnan, who won two Stanley Cups and six Vezina trophies during his Hall of Fame career.
Daley also learned a valuable lesson by watching the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Johnny Bower practise at the Forum. The future Hall of Famer did a drill in which he would stop every shot with his stick, no matter where the puck was headed.
“It’s a tool,” Daley said. “You’ve got to use the stick. So I started practising with the stick. Every part of your body is equipment — your skates, your hands, your gloves, your stick — now even your mask.”
Daley was asked if he has any advice for other old-timers who never want to hang up their skates.
“There’s no secret to it,” Daley said. “I watch my diet, I do a bit of exercise and all that. But a lot of guys do that. I’ve just been lucky.”
He’s still a goaler.