Former hockey player bounces back after accident
TORONTO, Ontario (BVM) 鈥� Playing hockey for the Michigan State Spartans was always a dream for Joe Archie. His whole life, Archie always wanted to suit up for the green and white. And when he got the chance to, the world decided to toss a wrench into the works.聽
Joe lived and played hockey in Ontario so it was rare to have a U.S. school reach out and give a scholarship to someone out of the country. For the last few months of his senior year of high school, Joe was able to take all of his classes online so that he could turn his focus more towards hockey. This was very rare for anyone to be able to take online classes like that, especially at the time that Joe did.
Then at just the age of 16, Joe was offered a full ride to Michigan State, which was also very rare. Scholarships are usually available until senior year of high school, at the age of 17 or 18. But Joe impressed the Spartan head coach so much, and they had to give him a scholarship.聽
鈥淚t was a dream come true to me. Growing up, this is the one and only thing I wanted to do,鈥� Archie said.
Archie had an exciting future ahead of him. That鈥檚 until one car ride, unfortunately, changed his plans.
鈥淚t was that summer we were coming home from a hockey camp, and someone ran a stop sign and took out both of my knees in the process,鈥� Archie said.聽
A聽 week after the accident, Joe was in surgery for knee replacements. One knee didn鈥檛 take, so he went in for a second surgery the following week later. And after the surgeries, Archie pushed himself to get back on the ice.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how, but I pushed myself to get to Michigan on the ice, which was three weeks after the accident,鈥� Archie said. 鈥淚t was out of sheer will, I [was] going to do this, this is a dream come true, so I really pushed myself.鈥� He realized many years later that probably wasn’t the best idea.聽
Archie had pushed himself to get back onto that ice with confidence. But it would prove to be too much as he recovered from his injuries.
鈥淭he next thing I remember [was] going on the ice and then waking up on the bench with a couple of them standing over me asking me if I was okay,鈥� Archie said. It felt like his whole career was over at that very moment.
As anyone would, Joe took this hard. Not being able to play a sport that he has played his entire life took a toll on him mentally and physically. He started to get into things that he wasn鈥檛 too proud of. But soon after, he started to go to his brother鈥檚 hockey games. If he couldn鈥檛 be in the rink on the ice, he would be in the rink to watch his brothers on the ice.聽
He was approached by his younger brother’s hockey coach Dave and was complimented on how well he did with kids and suggested a teacher career for Joe.聽
鈥淎ll I could think was oh great yeah, more school, only because I was that student with all C鈥檚 doing what I could just to get by,” Archie said.
But Joe followed the idea and went to a two-year college program to get a start for a teaching school. He took those two years, and it quickly turned into three years.
鈥淵ou know because I did the bare minimum,鈥� he said. He used the degree to get into a school in Buffalo, New York, for teaching.聽
Looking back, at a young age, Joe had always felt a connection with kids. He would help out with his sibling鈥檚 hockey teams. Coaches told him that the players would listen to him more than the older coaches. They felt a connection with Joe. And that was the reason he followed through with the teaching idea. He knew he wasn鈥檛 the best student, but he could give other students a good experience in the least.
Today, Joe has coached for his old high school, a couple of junior teams, and has continued to teach. He remains a die-hard hockey fan and continues to spend time with his wife and three children. And just recently, Joe has begun to coach his ten-year-old son, who is just as a big hockey fan as Joe.
