A Few Words About Ken
This was a sad week for many people in Penetanguishene because of the passing of Ken Cowan, "Captain Ken" as he was known to many, because of his popular restaurant of the same name on Main St. His passing at so young an age has certainly left a hole in many people's hearts. That in itself is a great epitaph.
Ken was a good man, kind, and affable, easy to talk to, always ready with a kind word or a word of advice. I don't profess to know Ken as well as many people in town, certainly not as well as his friends and regulars who frequented his restaurant and there were hundreds of those but I did know him a bit.
Ken came from good hockey stock, and a caring hockey family. His mom, Veronica, was a coach, volunteer, board member and President of Penetang Minor Hockey for many years. Ken's father, Max, was a longtime trainer, and minor hockey board member. I don't think they they ever missed a hockey game their kids played in. Max is an "Inductee" in our sports hall of fame and Veronica was recognized a few years ago as a "Hometown Hero." Ken's brother Larry was also a great defenceman during our years and younger brother Rob followed in their skates.
Ken and I had played hockey together in our mid to late teens; bantam, midget, Juvenile and Jr. C Kings. He was my defenceman. I was his goalie. In a sense, nothing more needs to be said. He counted on me and I counted on him. We had a common goal--stop the opposition from scoring. A solidly-built defenceman with a chunky but powerful stride, he had an equally powerful slapshot. And his bodychecks on opposition forwards, man they were a sight to behold from where I was! Body-crunching! oh Yeah! Yet ever the gentleman, he was the one who "always" warmed me up "properly" before a game. Always letting me get the feel of the puck. Those goalies out there will know exactly what I mean. That's a special defenceman. In practice, he never shot the puck high on me. Never. That too was special.
As we grew, I never saw him much but I would periodically frequent "Captain Ken's". I remember him buying the pool hall as a teenager and thinking, "Who the heck makes money from a poolhall?" and "It took guts to own a business so young!" I think he was only seventeen. Boy, did he make it thrive and Captain Ken's was soon a staple downtown. I had to give him credit. Wow!
He didn't hesitate to help the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame put on our bi-annual Fish Fry along with Larry Lalonde from ELM Catering. In order to reduce costs, the Hall of Fame paid for the fish at Ken's cost, and we would also get together with Ken, Ken's helper John Garraway, and Larry to precook all the fish, 500-700 pieces. We would cook it partially, so that on the day of the event, the cooking of the fish would be quicker to feed three-hundred people. These were great afternoons spent laughing and reminiscing, learning Ken's little tricks to cooking fish.
A few years ago, during our last PSHOF Fish-fry precooking afternoon at the Brian Orser Hall, I told Ken all these years later, that I still appreciated that as a teammate and especially as my defenceman years before, he was always the first guy to come back and tap me on the pads after I had let in a bad goal, (which I did frequently), to cheer me up. "Forget about it Davie!" "You got this, Davie!" "No problem, Davie!" he'd always say. Always. It was a little thing that was a big thing. He was always the first to come back and congratulate me when we won a game or I made a big save.
I wanted to thank him and I did that afternoon forty years later. He laughed with a little smirk when I said this to him, but then he paused and seriously said, "Thanks for telling me . . . and you're welcome, Davie."
These last few days, I'm thinking, I'm glad I did.