Childhood rival was Downie’s favourite player

Considering the late Gord Downie was an unabashed Boston Bruins fan, you might think his favourite hockey player would have been a Boston legend like Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque or Cam Neely.

Former NHL great Doug Gilmour, a fellow native of Kingston, Ont., would also be a good pick.

But instead of a household name, the Tragically Hip singer’s rather obscure choice, according to fellow musician and friend Dave Bidini, was Laverne Hennessy.

Music, pop culture and, of course, hockey — a popular subject in many Hip tunes — were all part of Bidini’s wide-ranging conversations with Downie.

“I remember him telling me that he watched (Hennessy) as a kid,” Bidini recalled following Downie’s death Tuesday night. “I guess he had the moves.” So who is Hennessy? A longtime opponent from Downie’s youth hockey days, Hennessy played four games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Cornwall Royals in 1982-83.

“I hated him, he hated me, but really we liked each other, you know what I mean?” Hennessy said. “I guess he must have liked how I played and I liked how he played.”

In 1982, the Royals drafted Hennessy — then a six-foot, 177-pound forward — from the Picton Midgets. A medical issue cut short his hockey career just as it was taking off.

As a youngster, Downie played goalie in nearby Amherstview, just outside of Kingston. He would face off against Hennessy’s team at least four or five times a season.

“I played centre. I wasn’t scrappy, I didn’t fight, but I know I scored a lot of goals on him,” Hennessy said from his hometown of Hillier, Ont. “But he probably made a lot of saves on me too. Did he and I ever sit down at a table and have a conversation? No we didn’t.

“But walking through the rink, (I) would see him and stare him down and he would see me and stare me down.”