Family ties push captain
By Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning Star
Published: May 01, 2011
David Robinson was two years old when his father, Jack, a popular chartered accountant in town, died of cancer.
Hardly a fair start in life, but the positive personality traits he inherited from his father and a strong family network have combined to make David the class act he is today as captain of the Vernon Vipers.
Robinson, 21, has never held any pity parties, but instead made the best of his upbringing and succeeded as an athlete and a human being during the process.
He will, once the Royal Bank Cup tournament in Camrose, Alta. ends next Sunday, sit down with “Bill and Kim” and discuss his future in hockey and education.
Kim is his hockey-crazed mom. Bill Richardson is his hockey-crazed step-dad. Together, they have been David’s rock since he left Vernon at 17 to play major junior for the Chilliwack Bruins.
“Growing up, my mom was a single mom and I owe everything to her really. She had a great support staff in my (older) brother, Chris, and then I could look at guys like (uncle) Jack Gilroy, who kind of stepped in, and were father figures, and eventually Bill. You couldn’t ask for a better step-dad. He’s the nicest guy in the world.
“For Bill and Kim, my junior career’s been kind of a roller-coaster ride, but they kind of stood by me, stayed positive and stayed in my corner so I owe a big thank you to them.”
Robinson is also thankful he comes from strong family genes. His late grandfather, Vern Dye, helped found the local junior A franchise and the BCJHL. His late uncle, Wayne, was this city’s athlete of the last century after being drafted in pro baseball and hockey.
“There’s a pretty rich history in my family. Looking up at the wall in the dressing room, you see Vern’s name, you see Wayne’s name. I wish I would have got to see Wayne play, but I’ve heard a lot of great stories, and definitely I owe a lot to my grampa. I was talking about myself being an honest guy; he was probably the most honest guy I’ve known so I learned a lot from him. It’s nice having that history behind me.”
Some hockey people thought Robinson made a mistake when he left the Bruins just before Christmas in the 2009-10 season to join the Vipers. He sees thing differently after learning how to compete hard with and against some of the world’s elite players in the Western League.
“Team-wise, I knew they had a good team here and I wanted to win a national championship. I wanted to get that spark back in my game I lost. I think I did that, and I’ve been having a lot of fun. And being one of the go-to-guys and being the guy that all the younger guys look up to has been pretty rewarding for me.”
Robinson has pretty much the same leadership qualities as the last six Vernon captains of championship teams: Bruce Ramsay, Terry Klapstein, Jeff Cheeseman, Lenny Rampone, Chris Crowell and Kevin Kraus.
“I talk in the dressing room, but I go out there and try and lead by example and just work my bag off, whether it’s in practice or in games, and hopefully the young guys have learned that from me, that I’ll go out there and give an honest effort out there every night. When I need to say something, I’ll definitely say it.”
He listened and watched closely the class acts in Chilliwack, where in his second season, he was a rotating captain.
“My first year, I had Nick Holden who was playing in Syracuse (Springfield Falcons of the AHL and five games with Columbus Blue Jackets this year). He was our captain and I learned a lot from him. Guys like Oscar Moller and Mark Santorelli as well. They’re professionals now so you learned a lot from them. They came to the rink every game and they acted like professionals and they were playing junior.
“There’s guys like Jesse Craige and Matt Meropoulis (second year) who were more like my style. They were captains when I was captain and we kind of just fed off one another. We didn’t have a great year but it was still a good experience.”
He says the Viper newbies are a pretty laid-back group which may explain why they are in another RBC tournament when nobody outside their dressing room really expected them to be there.
“Looking back, you couldn’t tell. What’d we lose, 16 guys last year? You can’t give enough credit to the guys who have come in and done their job. Looking down the road, this team has a pretty bright future.”
Net detective Kirby Halcrow, who said he had a perma-grin when told he was being traded here in early December, likes Robinson’s moxy.
“Dave, he’s a very good guy. He’s very intense during the on-ice sessions and then off the ice, he kinds of likes to joke around a lot so it’s really good both ways.”
Halcrow, a money goalie for sure, said he quickly saw the Vipers’ five-star hotel template put in play.
“You get treated very well by everyone in the town and the coaching staff’s really good to you,” said the Alberta product. “If you’re having a tough time, they’ll take you aside and talk to you. They’ll talk things through and they’ll always be there to help you no matter what and they’re not gonna get down on your neck for anything.
“They’ll be the helping hand first which is really good. I think that’s why a lot of players wanna come here. They’ve got a great coaching staff and a great staff in all.”
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