On March 4, 2012 Kerry Goulet will return to his second home, Timmendorfer Strand, where he, along with Mark Mackay and Marvin Glaser, captured the German Oberliga-Championship in 1992. Though 52, Goulet will play in the Regionalliga North for the second team of the ECT Timmendorfer Strand. He is taking this very seriously for more than one reason. He has been working out the past month to get in shape to bring some of his old skills to the arena, where his #29 jersey is hung under the roof, along with his buddies MacKay, Glaser and Mai! For the evening, the club will lower his jersey in a pre-game ceremony and will allow the number 29 to be used one more time.
Though slower than in his best years with Timmendorf in the early nineties, Goulet is making this a special night. He will be playing for some very special people who have touched his life over the years. As Goulet travels the world to help promote safer sport, he has been honored to meet people like Keith Primeau, Barry Munro, Marc-Andre Emond and the Pelly Family, who have made all his efforts that much more gratifying. The evening is called “Comeback for Charity”. Goulet will be playing for his friends, who can no longer play hockey or participate in sport because of concussions or a spinal cord injury.
Eric Pelly is first on the list … he lost his life to due to complications from a series of concussions and Kerry wants to honor him and his family. Keith Primeau, a respected friend and the former captain of the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL who suffered a career ending concussion, now travels in North America helping promote their charity – stopconcussions.com. Kerry’s dearest friend, Robert Vielfaure, broke his neck over thirty years ago and has always been the biggest inspiration for him. Barry Munro is a special guy who works tirelessly for the spinal cord injured with individuals all across Canada. Goulet will also play for seven very special friends: Marc-Andre Emond, Andrew Zaccardo, Travis Zarillio-Colley, Ryan Durham, David Holmes, Tracy Kyne and Kurt Gengenbach. Tracy is a good friend of Kerry’s girlfriend and has just recently broken her neck in a bicycle accident, leaving her a quadriplegic.
The last reason for coming out of retirement to play in this game is to try to achieve a personal milestone. In 2000, Goulet officially retired from his playing career, leaving the game 9 points short of 2000. In 2001 and 2005 he attempted to play again but fell short by 3 points (accumulating 1997 for his German career) and decided to shelve the idea of reaching this incredible number. One month ago Andy Marlie presented him with the opportunity to comeback and play in his favorite city, to do it for charity and to take a final run at 2000. The challenge was on. Follow this story on stopconcussions.com and on Facebook as Goulet, better known as the Gouche, attempts this feat!