Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/951543
The resurgence of the Greenway Amateur Hockey Association // By Jessi Pierce KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. "How would you like to come play hockey for Greenway?" That was the basis of conversations Pat Guyer and Jim Lawson had with families throughout the Iron Range community of Coleraine in 2010. Like door-to-door salesmen pitching a set of must-have knives, Guyer and Lawson— both former varsity coaches—were pitching hockey to potential parents. Numbers had plummeted to the point where fielding a team was near- ly out of the question. A co-op with Grand Rapids was peeking its head around the corner like an ugly bedtime monster. "It was really just getting through the survival mode," said current varsity head coach Grant Clafton. "We had to wait it out a little bit until more of those young- er kids that we were getting out to the rinks were coming up. "Since then, I've noticed more than anything just the commitment level throughout the whole association and the tradition kind of being restored. Former players from the past giving their full support and getting involved, and that's really been responsible for the turnaround in the program." Between 2010 and 2015, player regis- tration from top to bottom—Mini-Mites through varsity—was up 50 percent. 24 M H J ON L I N E . C O M | M A R C H 2 0 1 8 MINING S U C C E S S Photos / Adessa Nelson