By Jack Wilson
The first thing to know about Amherstburg, Ontario is that it is absolutely gorgeous.
Quiet, green and right on the banks of the Detroit River, which is also the river that splits Detroit & Windsor. It has also claimed the title of "Canada's safest town" for two straight years. The town celebrated it's bicentennial this year, but unfortunately that celebration just got upstaged by a visit from the Stanley Cup and "Kevin Westgarth Day." Indeed, the town's mayor declared Aug. 21, 2012 "Kevin Westgarth Day," and it was complete with a parade through town, as people waved from their front lawns and an autograph session at the local ice rink. The autograph session was intended for the local kids and was especially important to Westgarth because, as his wife Meagan told us, Kevin was once one of those kids. He was never the most talented kid, but he still dreamt of great things in hockey.
Westgarth was telling us later that he didn't even dream of the NHL - let alone the Stanley Cup. He just wanted to play some form of pro hockey. He said that there was never anything really specific he set as a goal, until one night when he was sitting on the back porch at his family's home. That night, Westgarth told everybody that one day he would bring home the Stanley Cup and set it right on that back porch. From that point on, that was the dream, even if Westgarth says it seemed like a long shot. Well today, once the people of Amherstburg had their time with the Cup, it made its way back to the Westgarth family home. Once there, it went directly to that back porch, where friends of Kevin and Meagan were waiting in special attire for the day. A couple of their friends had special tank tops made. The front read "Kevin Westgarth Day," while the back sported a picture of Westgarth embracing the Cup. It was a pretty cool sight. A small group of friends, on a sunny summer day, barbecuing burgers, with the Stanley Cup and Westgarth in their rightful places on the back porch.
