Garrett Riley - 2024 Inductee, Para Ice Hockey

Greetings, everyone. My name is Rick Mannen and I'm an inductee into the Brantford Area and Sports Hall of Recognition. I'm honored today to be chatting with Garrett Riley for the sport of para ice hockey. Welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you. Glad you can make it with us today. We're just going to chat about, get an insight into who you are, some of your journey and what it was like being inducted into the Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition. Yeah, for sure. I grew up in Brantford playing stand up hockey and all kinds of other sports, and, just always was an active kid and always had great support coming from Brantford just with all the teams I was on. And it was just being recognized from the city that I'm from is absolutely incredible. And it's a massive honor from for myself. And I appreciate all the support that comes from the community. Yeah, it's pretty terrific. Definitely. For sure. Well, let's dive right into some of these questions. I'm interested to know what drew you into the sport of para ice hockey. So I think it's just the natural knack for hockey. It's something I had just had to kind of change my mindset a little bit from, not being able play stand up anymore and just, I found sledge hockey and was right back at home. So it was, it was amazing to be able to find something like that. And there's always something out there. It doesn't matter what obstacle you're going through. Yeah. Great message. Do you have any mentors that helped you along the way or impacted your life, your sport or your career? Definitely. Definitely. A lot of my coaches, one in particular is actually an ex NHL player. His name is Mike Fujino, and he's actually a really big mentor of mine. And my girlfriend Alyson, she's been there for me through everything. Excuse me. it didn't matter what it was. She was always right there by my side, and that really helped me to get here today, so. Yeah. That's terrific. Yeah, It's important to have that support, isn't it? For sure. Absolutely. Yeah. What are some of the highlights of your career there? Some of the highlights. I mean, of course, going to represent Canada. I've done it. I did it in the Czech Republic for a world championship, and I've actually done it for a couple of other tournaments as well. It's the Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup. It's run pretty much all over Canada. It's my first one. I was actually able to have it here in London, Ontario, so it was very nice to have my family nice and close and then obviously going to go into the Paralympics and bringing back the silver medal and also getting a couple of points and scoring a goal there was was pretty cool. It was amazing. Yeah, it would be for sure. Putting that medal around your neck. Definitely. Yes. What an experience. Absolutely. Well, how has para ice hockey impacted your life? It's been amazing for me because it it helped me find something. A new drive for something, a new passion. Like I said, I just had to kind of change my mindset a little bit. And. But, I just it helped me to kind of change on a more positive way. And the people that I've met along the way have been absolutely incredible. So super. Now this is pretty fresh because last night was the induction ceremony. And it was a great night like it always is. What does it mean to you to be inducted into the Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition? Like you said, it's, it's still very fresh, but, just seeing all the previous inductees such as yourself and just seeing all the support that that was able to come out last night and, and just like I said, being from Brantford, it's a huge honor to be able to have my name written in the books forever. So it's, it's very, very fresh still but I'm very honored. Yeah. You're a piece of history for sure. Absolutely. It's very weird to think, but. Yes. Yeah. Well, what advice would you share if you were talking to a young aspiring athlete? Yeah. it doesn't matter if they were able bodied, disabled, didn't matter what it was. I think that, there's always a sport out there. There's always coaching, there's always being a mentor. Just being around people. And I think the people in sport are really positive people and they have a lot of passion and it's good people to be around. So I think it's just kind of surrounding yourself with those people and just keep going. That's a great message. Great. Thank you. Well, I appreciate chatting with you today. You're sort of sharing some insight into who you are and some of your journey and what it was like being inducted in last nights Sports Hall. For sure. I would like to invite everyone down to the Wayne Gretzky Center. If you haven't been there, you're missing it. I tell you, you've got to get down there and see the Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition. You can read about Garrett's journey and see his artifacts and that of many other inductees that we've had come out of this, Brantford area. Thanks, Garrett. Thank you very much. Have a good day. You too.