Creamer: Belisles made me better
A little of this, a little of that …
• The game had been over for nearly half an hour when Bishop Hendricken hockey coach Jim Creamer walked over to the Mount St. Charles dressing room.
As his players patiently waited for the bus that would transport them back to Warwick, Creamer spent a few moments in the company of Bill and Dave Belisle. Earlier on that same Friday night, a pregame ceremony took place at Adelard Arena that recognized the end of a coaching era that impacted many lives – even those tasked with the
challenge of trying to topple Rhode Island’s answer to a sports dynasty.
From his days as a Hendricken skater during the 1980s, to the 25 years and counting that he’s spent as an interscholastic head coach, first at La Salle before moving on to his high school alma mater in 2001, Creamer has done many a hockey dance against the Belisles. Upon learning that Mount had plans to recognize a father-son tandem who are synonymous with hockey success, Creamer had his fingers crossed that the schedule would match up in a way that Hendricken would serve as the opposition.
“Personally, this was a special night for me. … beyond respect for Bill and Dave as coaches and as people. I’m happy to be a small part of it,” Creamer said. “Everyone involved in hockey in this state since 1975 has benefited from them.”
Mount officials extended an invitation for Hendricken to watch the pregame ceremony from the visiting bench.
“For us, that was a no-brainer,” Creamer said.
During his speech that saw him well up several times, Dave Belisle never once talked about himself. Even though the spotlight had been reserved for him and his dad, Dave wanted the moment to be all about the elder Belisle. Creamer was more than accommodating when asked about Dave’s impact on standing lockstep with his dad in establishing a hockey powerhouse that in turn helped raise the competitive ante from would-be challengers such as Hendricken.
“Dave is a very humble guy. He passes all the credit to his dad,” Creamer said. “He’s a loyal son but he’s also a big piece.”
Asked to share some snippets of the postgame conversation with the Belisles after Hendricken held on for a 4-3 win, Creamer responded with, “I just thanked them for everything. Dave and I have a great relationship that’s developed over the years. Respect is the word when it comes to them. I’ve been on the end of a lot of their wins.”
Creamer then shared some particulars of a phone conversation with Dave Belisle that took place the day before Hendricken ventured to Mount for a contest hailed as a first-place showdown.
“I was coaching at La Salle and Mount beat us 16-0. I remember his dad saying to me afterwards that, ‘It’s not my job to stop you. It’s your job to stop me,’” Creamer said. “It wasn’t said in a cocky way. I told Dave that the both of them have made me a better coach.”
Bill and Dave Belisle didn’t just impact those who wore a Mount sweater. As Creamer gladly attested to while standing in the tunnel that leads to the Adelard Arena playing surface, there’s no question the Belisle’s influence hopped across one set of hockey boards with the impact felt by those on the opposite bench.
• It’s been a solid bounce-back season for Hendricken senior goalie Patrick Gribbin, via Lincoln, following a junior season that featured periods of struggles. As a sophomore, Gribbin backboned the 2016-17 Hawks to the state title.
“He’s been great for us all year,” Creamer said.
How great? In 16 games that have been reported to www.rihsh. com, Gribbin has posted a 1.63 goals-against-average and a .901 save percentage. A goalie is as only as good as the skaters in front of him, hence Gribbin made sure to give credit to his Hendricken teammates. The Hawks will enter the Division I playoffs as the tournament’s top seed.
“We have a great group of kids who want to get the job done,” Gribbin said.
Traditionally, goalies are late bloomers when it comes to recruiting. Gribbin wants to play in college but first will take his puck-stopping talents to either Worcester Academy or a program affiliated with the Eastern Hockey League.
“Doing a post-graduate year or playing juniors is definitely the best route for me,” Gribbin said. “I’ll be able to get another year of hockey under my belt before making a decision.”
• Pawtucket native Tedrick Wilcox took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to announce his verbal commitment to join the Dominican College men’s basketball program beginning next season. Dominican College is a NCAA Division II school that’s based in Orangeburg, N.Y. and competes out of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Listed at 6-foot-5 and gifted with an explosive first step, Wilcox started his high school career at Tolman before moving on to the Rocky Hill School.
• Helping the Bryant University women’s swimming & diving team achieve the program’s second-straight Northeast Conference Championship this past weekend was junior/Cumberland native Kayleigh Canavan, who garnered fourth place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.88) and helped Bryant capture the 200 medley relay (1:40.71). Canavan also reached the finals of the 50 freestyle.
Sara Gendron, a Bryant freshman who hails from North Smithfield, provided the Bulldogs with points in the 200-yard individual medley (16th, 2:11.03).
• There’s also a local presence to sing the praises of after the women’s indoor track & field team at Rhode Island College captured the Little East Conference Championship on Saturday. Junior Jacklyn Xavier (Cumberland) earned N.E. Alliance honors in the 200 medley (27.20 seconds) with a sixth-place finish and took home 11th in 400 (1:03.86). Junior Nicaury Nunez from Central Falls was part of RIC’s 4x800m relay that finished fourth (10:45.30).
• Memo to WEEI and the Red Sox: Since the revamped radio booth will feature a zillion names (with possibly one more still to come – wink wink), it might not be a bad idea to publish a weekly schedule that provides the listenership with an idea of who they’ll be tuning into. Think of this suggestion as something resembling an elementary school lunch menu where on Wednesday of this week, you will hear X and Y (and if there’s a third person in the booth, Z) calling the action.
• This column would have been longer, but it’s time to sharpen the pencils, make sure there’s still plenty of pages left in the scorebook, and double check that there’s enough running score sheets at the ready. One of this scribe’s favorite events to chronicle – high school basketball playoffs – is right around the corner. You might say it’s approaching at the speed of a fast-break. Preliminary-round games are on the docket for this coming Friday.