Coaching develops into a passion for Garrioch

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This article was published 04/08/2017 (3201 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG  — More than 13 years have passed since Harley Garrioch got his start in coaching.

Garrioch was 16 years old then and playing in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

He came home to Cross Lake over the Christmas break when his father Peter suggested he hold a hockey camp for local kids as a way to earn a few extra dollars towards Christmas gifts.

“At first I didn’t really know how to do it. I had to learn on my own, really,” Garrioch admitted Thursday in Winnipeg. “I just brought drills from junior and brought them to kids and that’s where I really learned to talk to kids. I didn’t really know the coaching side but that was it.

“That’s where I started coaching and it’s been a passion since.”

Now 29, Garrioch, who lives in Brandon with wife Tara, four-year old daughter Sarah and one-year-old son Jacob, was an assistant coach to David Muswaggon on the Manitoba men’s softball team at this week’s Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg.

Unfortunately for Garrioch and the under-21 Pimicikamak Thunder that represented the province, they only mustered a 1-8 record in preliminary-round play and bowed out of the event with a 13-6 loss to New Brunswick in a placement game at the John Blumberg Softball Complex on Thursday.

It wasn’t the result Garrioch had hoped for but he enjoyed being on Muswaggon’s staff.

He actually joined Muswaggon and fellow assistant John Spence through the Aboriginal Apprentice Coach Program. Each province or territory at the Games was provided a chance to send two coaches of aboriginal ancestry to the event in an apprentice role.

Ryan Brody (baseball) is the other Manitoban that was part of the AACP.

But Garrioch, who was the head coach and general manager of the Cross Lake Islanders in the Junior B Keystone Junior Hockey League at the time, almost didn’t take up Muswaggon on the offer to be an assistant when discussions began about 18 months ago.

“At first I didn’t know what to think because I didn’t realize how big the Canada Summer Games were so I was kind of hesitant at first, but I’m super glad I was a part of it,” Garrioch said. “It’s been awesome and I got so much development as a coach and I learned so much and met so many good coaches along the way.

“That’s the best way to learn is to learn it from more experienced coaches. Anyone looking to apply for that I’d definitely push them for sure.”

Muswaggon was grateful to have had Garrioch’s support during Manitoba’s 10 contests at the Games.

“I don’t know what I would do without Harley and John. They’ve been a great support and Harley brings a lot of youth and energy to the coaching process and he has sports experience, multi-sport experience,” Muswaggon said. “He is just a welcome addition to our team.”

“He’s a great athlete and great young man, great family man and a great role model for a lot of our aboriginal kids wherever he goes,” Muswaggon continued.

After two seasons with the Wolverines and two more in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Flin Flon Bombers in which he racked up 13 goals, 65 points and 646 penalty minutes in 205 regular-season games, Garrioch headed to the United States, where he played NCAA Division III hockey with the Neumann University Knights in Aston, Pa.

In four seasons with the Knights, he tallied six goals, 19 points and 169 penalty minutes, ending his tenure in Pennsylvania following the 2012-13 campaign.

Garrioch noted his high PIM statistics are in some way attributable to his upbringing in Cross Lake.

“When I was younger we had an outdoor rink — one of the only outdoor rinks in my area that I lived in — and I was always the youngest kid on that rink,” he said.

“All my friends were older … they toughened me up. So I went to Wayway and I made it as a 16-year-old and they told me I wasn’t going to play much so I knew my role right off the bat that if I wasn’t going to score goals, I had to do something.

“I guess that persona followed me throughout my career, but when I got to college I adjusted to the college game. There’s no fighting there and it was frustrating at first but it was an easy adjustment.”

But as the former Manitoba Senior Baseball Leaguer — he played with the Birtle Blue Jays — prepares for his second year as the head hockey instructor at Ochapowace Nation Sports Academy in Saskatchewan, and the hundreds of kilometres he puts on his vehicle weekly, Garrioch is quite content in his current role, continuing to teach and push young First Nations athletes to superior heights.

Muswaggon thinks Garrioch’s rise in the coaching ranks will continue as he gains more experience.

“He’s got strong work ethic and he’s committed and dedicated to any spot he takes on and plans and trains and that’s the kind of mindset, attitude and desire that he will show and tell all the other athletes he’s going to be coaching down the road,” Muswaggon said.

Maybe even four years on Manitoba’s softball team at the 2021 Canada Summer Games takes place in Ontario’s Niagara Region.

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