Tina Appleby proudly displays her Oshawa Generals gear in her North Bay home. Photo By Dennis Chippa.
Tina Appleby wears her heart on her sleeve, especially when it comes to her son Kenny.
Kenny spent his long weekend celebrating the OHL championship for the Oshawa Generals and preparing for the Memorial Cup, as the Gens number one goaltender, and the league’s top goalie.
Mom says she is not quite over the feeling of watching her son achieve the OHL title.
“It’s hard to describe, I was stunned, I was absolutely speechless, I was in tears on Friday night when we beat the Erie Otters. I don’t think it really hit me until I got down to the ice and I was actually able to hold him and touch him and feel how happy he was and I was overwhelmed with tears and absolute pride.”
Pride that comes from years of work, on Kenny’s part, and on the part of Tina and her husband Brian in supporting his dream, the same dream every kid that laces up skates has.
“We made the trips to the practices in Trout Creek and picking him up from school and over to Double Rinks or West Ferris for practices, and Brian would go to tournaments with him, and to the arena in Temiskaming in snowstorms for practices, then up to Kirkland Lake for his games and tournaments.
The road trips continued this season, as Tina and her extended family hit the road for most Generals games.
Tina says it was important to Kenny, especially with him being Oshawa's top goaltender.
“This year it was almost like we have to. One way or another whether I meet you in Oshawa or whatever, we go. But I had a lot of family support, it was phenomenal this season and they made the road trips down with me. The family support, either going down to the games or watching them here at home it was something we had to do. “
And typical of the athlete in this kind of situation, Tina says her son is handling things pretty well.
“He’s happy. He’s taking it better than we are. He’s doing a whole lot better than his parents are. But it’s nice ‘cause we know he’s worked hard to get where he is and it’s paying dividends.”
Tina says the undrafted Appleby is also realizing every game is a job interview, with the goal of an NHL contract within reach.
Strangely, it’s something Tina says her husband Brian was always ready for, but she was not.
“Brian always said Kenny’s gonna make it to the NHL at some point and I was like ‘No, take it one day at a time and just roll with it, and if it happens it happens, if it doesn’t that’s okay.’ I said to Brian last night that I don’t think I was ever mentally prepared for us to get to where we are now and that we’re going to the draft and the fact they’ve won the Robertson trophy and are now going on to the Memorial Cup.”
The Appleby's are hoping to make the entire Memorial Cup, depending on work schedules.
However, Tina says if the Generals reach the finals, she’ll be there, preparing for ‘another long road trip.’
And would Tina do it again???
She says absolutely.
“I would do this again in a heartbeat. I am gonna miss it.”
