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OSC coach not surprised to see trio join Defensor Gord Stewart, pictured repairing a hockey helmet in 1988, served as the Oakville Blades trainer for 25 years. Stewart, who also volunteered his services to the Oakville Oaks senior hockey team and the Oakville A's senior baseball team, among other community organizations, passed away earlier this month at the age of 98.| Oakville Beaver file photo 37 | Friday, April 26, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Gord Stewart was Blades' trainer -- and more -- for 25 years by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor The Oakville Blades have had their share of talented hockey players over the past four decades. Many former Blades have gone on to play major junior hockey, others have suited up for university squads in both Canada and the U.S. And a few Blades alumni have had a taste of the National Hockey League as well. Former Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils tough guy Andrew Peters played five games for Oakville in 1995-96, Jeff Shevalier suited up in 32 career NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning, and Ron Hoover saw 18 games of NHL action with the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. This season alone, Steve Pinizzotto cracked the Vancouver Canucks lineup to play 11 games, Cody Goloubef scored his first NHL goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Jeremy Welsh played five games for the Carolina Hurricanes. Even Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma is a former member of the Blades, having played 10 games for Oakville in 1986-87. But if you had to pick one person to be emblematic of the Blades and their history, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better choice than a man who didn't even play a single game for the team. Gord (Gordie) Stewart, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 98, spent 25 years as a volunteer with the Blades. Stewart's official role was trainer, but he filled so many other roles that enable amateur sports teams to both exist and flourish. "Back then, you didn't have five trainers and an equipment manager," remembers Mark Perras, who played three seasons with the Blades from 1972-74 before going on to win a Memorial Cup championship with the Hamilton Fincups in 1976. "He did it all, basically. He did the training, the equipment, helping load the bus, whatever. He did it all, but he was always in the background. He wasn't overpowering. He let the players do their thing." According to a 1988 Oakville Beaver feature article on Stewart -- he had been with the Blades for 15 years at that point, after serving 13 years in a similar capacity with the Oakville Oaks senior team before it folded -- the Oakville resident had an uncanny knack for repairing equipment on the cheap. "Gordie fixes anything -- things that you and I would throw out. He'll put a clasp on something or saw something else. It's a remarkable skill," Murray Walker, then the Blades' general manager, told the Beaver in 1988. Stewart's thriftiness, an asset to any organization with a limited budget, also shone through when it came to doling out supplies. He had a reputation among players of being tight with tape and sticks, giving them what they needed but nothing more. "The veterans know `Don't push Gordie', because if they do, they're asking for trouble," Stewart was quoted as saying in the 1988 article. Born in Trenton and raised in the Madoc-Marmora area, Stewart moved to Oakville in 1941 while he was an accountant for Canadian Arsenals in Long Branch. He became an accountant with Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd. in 1955, a job he held for 25 years. His motivation for volunteering with the Blades was simple. "I like to work with the young people. I like to see where they are going," Stewart said in 1988. "Over the years, so many guys have gone to American universities. It makes me feel good when a player gets a scholarship." In addition to his work with the Oaks and Blades, Stewart also served as a trainer for the Oakville A's senior baseball team, was on the Catholic school board and coached minor hockey. "He loved kids," his daughter, Suzanne Beatty, recalls. "He loved the boys with the Blades and the older boys with the Oaks. It kept him young. He really liked helping the team." In 1975, Stewart received a citation from the Province of Ontario for his outstanding contributions to the field of athletic therapy. Beatty's daughter, Michelle, is now following in her grandfather's footsteps, working as an athletic therapist for the Battlefords North Stars of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Gord Stewart, predeceased by wife Nora and son Richard, leaves behind his son Paul, daughters Jo-Anne and Suzanne, eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Funeral mass was held Tuesday at St. Andrew Catholic Church. continued from p.36 a hug, then ran around to the driver's side, opened the door and gave Rafa a hug too, saying, `Thank you so much.' I almost started crying as well but I was just so happy." The fact that all three joined Defensor didn't come as a shock to Carbajal. "They played much better there than I've ever seen them play here," Carbajal said. "Obviously, once they were in that environment, right away they adjusted and they really showed that they were into it 100 per cent." Though he considers his time with the OSC senior men's team valuable for his development, Bouchard "guarantees" he wouldn't be the player he is today without having Carbajal as his manager. "Playing with men prepares you so much for going to another country to play, especially a place like Uruguay because people my age play like men. The level is on a different scale and is really incomparable," Bouchard said. "What prepared me most, without a doubt, wasn't the competition I had playing with the men's team in Oakville, it was Rafa's coaching. "The way he coaches and all the things he taught me screaming at the top of his lungs are the things that have given me the chance to excel here in Uruguay." Bouchard and Galvis live with a family just outside Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay and the former still attends his Grade 11 French, Spanish and Physics classes at his high school in Hamilton (Georges-P .-Vanier) via Skype. While he misses his friends and family, Bouchard describes Uruguay as "where I belong." "I've been loving it so far and how couldn't I?" said Bouchard, who made the move from Oakville to his new home a month ago. "I'm living somewhere people all around the world dream of just seeing and why? Because I'm playing soccer, doing what I love most in life. There's nothing I can complain about at all." MacIntosh earns another NLL weekly accolade For the fourth straight week, and the sixth time this season, Jordan MacIntosh has been named the National Lacrosse League's transition player of the week. MacIntosh had a goal and three assists in the Minnesota Swarm's 16-14 loss to Colorado Saturday. The goal was the 50th of his career and came just one week after recording his 100th career point. It was his career-best 24 loose balls that really distinguished him this week, though. The second-year Swarm player also forced two turnovers and won 65 per cent of his faceoffs (22-for-34). MacIntosh finished the season ranked second in the league in loose balls with 197 and fourth in faceoffs won with 241. He also improved his faceoff winning percentage from 42.3 per cent in his rookie year to 55.5 per cent this season. The former Oakville Buzz player had 27 goals and 55 points in 16 games for Minnesota. He has racked up 31 points in his last six games. Minnesota, which also includes Oakville's Alex Crepinsek, will open the NLL playoffs Sunday against the Toronto Rock at 3 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre.