EDMONTON - By the cheers and sign-waving, you would think the entire Detroit Red Wings hockey team was about to enter the gym at Robert Rundle Elementary School in St. Albert.

View Large

John Osgood, father of Detroit Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood and the principal at Robert Rundle Elementary School, was surprised with a celebration by his students Monday.

Photograph by : John Lucas, The Journal

ARTICLE TOOLS

• Printer friendly
• E-mail

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

Instead, the guest of honour at Monday morning's celebration was principal John Osgood, whose son helped Detroit capture the Stanley Cup.

John was in Detroit and Pittsburgh last week to watch Chris play goal for the Red Wings, and was greeted upon his return Monday morning by a surprise schoolwide assembly to congratulate him.

Students and teachers alike were dressed in red and white, and footage from the end of Game 6 in Pittsburgh played on the projector -- including a few shots of John Osgood beaming from the stands.

The whole school had been following the Cup final, cheering for the Red Wings.

"It's so heartwarming for me to see these kids in their support and their excitement," Osgood said after the assembly.

"That brings it home how important it is for us to recognize that we have others who feel this, too. It was important to them to support me in the quest for the Stanley Cup."

This season was the third time John has had the chance to see his son raise hockey's most coveted trophy. That didn't make the experience any less nerve-wracking for John in the stands, however.

"I'm a hockey dad, so I know it's a 60-minute game, and I knew that in Detroit in Game 5 when they scored in the last minute to extend the series.

"So in the last minute in Pittsburgh when it was 3-2 and everybody was up cheering, I was sitting. I was watching the screen, and it was 5.2 seconds left, and the puck was at centre ice, so I risked standing up and starting to celebrate," he said.

"Then, all of a sudden, it's a two-one-one down low, Crosby's got the backhand, Hossa's got the puck and throws it through the crease.

"But it worked out and it was so emotional, but a sense of relief, too, that it was over. I think I was more nervous than Chris was."

The Red Wings promoted Chris Osgood from backup goalie to starter midway through the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs against the Nashville Predators, much to his father's delight.

"He had a great year. His getting the start didn't surprise me," he laughed. "I said to the coach at the end of (Game 6), 'You picked the right goalie this year.' "

Back at school on Monday, Osgood took off his hockey-dad hat and went back into principal mode, and gave a motivational speech to the assembled students. He reminded them first to follow their dreams, and also drove home the importance -- once those dreams have been reached -- of not forgetting the people who helped you along the way.

And though he took part in the Red Wings' victory parade through the streets of Detroit last week, he said that the students' display moved him even more.

"It's hard to put into words when the children honour you for who you are or what you've done. It's so rewarding," he said. "And it reminds you that it's for kids as much as it is for adults. They get so excited and so caught up in the moment."

rcollum@thejournal.canwest.com