Hockey has taken Garth
Snow to the highest levels of the sport but decades later, the Wrentham native
still remembers the fierce rivalry between Lake Pearl and Lake Archer.
The
General Manager of the New York Islanders says that even though twenty or more
years have passed, he and his friends still remember the heated games on the
frozen lakes. “To this day friends I have on both lakes still talk about the
bragging rights and who had the better hockey players on which lake,” Snow
says, a former Lake Pearl player. “We would always kick Lake Archer’s butt.”
These days Snow spends
his time trying to make the New Islanders into a Stanley Cup caliber team. “Anyone that is in this business is in it to win a
championship,” Snow explains. “I’m no different than anyone else.”
The change from player
to general manager, while different, still satisfies Snow’s competitive nature.
“The big difference from being a player is you’re mostly concerned about your
own preparation and being prepared for that next game,” Snow says. “As a
manager now you look out for not only a team in the NHL but your AHL team, your
prospects whether they’re in junior hockey, college hockey, Europe, scouting
for the next wave of Islander. It’s a fun challenge and definitely a transition
from worrying about myself to worrying about 100 different aspects of the
organization.”
Snow’s roots are still
in town. His mother still calls Wrentham home and he has family and friends in the area. He makes it to Wrentham to visit and the
recent NHL lockout gave him extra time to return to his hometown. Whenever he is in
the area scouting local college and AHL teams, he’s able to drop in on Wrentham. “I get back into
town several times a year,” Snow says. “I have lots of family and friends still
living there. It’s always a treat when I can get back and spend time with
them.”
Growing up in Wrentham
he spent most of his time trying to keep up with his brothers. Snow is the
youngest of five (4 boys and 1 sister). He played youth hockey in Foxboro and
went to Mount Saint Charles for high school. He was just inducted into the
Mount Saint Charles Hall of Fame this past summer. He played his college hockey
at the University of Maine where he won a National Championship. Snow also
played for the U.S. National team in the 1994 Olympics and in the 1998 World
Championship. His NHL playing career spanned 12 years suiting up for Quebec Nordiques, Philadelphia
Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders.
He remembers playing at
the Norfolk Ice Arena, in Foxboro, and in Franklin. “I have memories of my Mom
carting my brothers and me around from rink to rink,” Snow says. “That
commitment was something appreciated on my brothers’ part and my part."
Thinking back to his
high school days he also remembers the dedication of his parents to get him to
Mount Saint Charles in Woonsocket and back home to Wrentham. “I was very
fortunate to have a set of parents that were willing to make the commitment
travel wise, commuting every day to Mount and back to Wrentham,” Snow says.
“Mount had an outstanding program.”
While his job is now in
the front office, Snow does get out on the ice to play in staff games. “It’s not
at the same pace as when I was playing, but it’s always good to get out on the
ice-- sweat and compete,” he says. “It’s still the greatest game on Earth.”
The New York Islanders will play in Boston on April 11. It might be another change for Snow to visit his old stomping grounds and perhaps relive the great hockey rivarly of Wrentham's lakes.