 Second-year goalie Justin Garay is this week's player in “Breaking the Ice with…” The feature will be a season long series on plymouthwhalers.com and showcase a different Whaler each week so we can get to know them better.
Selected in the 8th round (159th overall) in the 2003 OHL Draft by Plymouth, Garay is in his second season with the team. On October 21, 2005, he recorded his first career shutout with 29 saves at Kitchener. On February 10, 2006 at London, Garay and Justin Peters became the first Whalers tandem to share a shutout. The Monaca, Pennsylvania, native took a few minutes before practice to help us break the ice. » On the best advice he has been given… “Never give up on what you believe in and never quit working to get what you want.” » On how he started playing hockey… “I was 4 years old and I was watching a game on TV and I told my dad I wanted to try that, so he took me and got me started. When I was 4, I just skated and when I was 5, I started hockey, and half way through the hockey year, I switched over to goalie because we didn’t have a goalie on the team.”  » On his youth hockey highlight…
“My team, the Pittsburgh Amateur Penguins, won the Quebec Pee Wee tournament and I played the championship game, so that was pretty exciting.” » On his most memorable game… “Probably my first game in the OHL against London (10/1/04). We lost 5-4 in overtime, but it was the first time I played in front of that many fans, so that’s probably my most memorable game.” » On goalies being a little different… “I don’t think I’m crazy or anything, but I definitely think I’m a little different than everyone else.” » On his best moment in a Whalers uniform… “My best moment was probably when I got a shutout in Kitchener. It was my first OHL shutout and it was against the ex-Whalers coach, so it was a pretty big win for us. Jakub Kindl, the first rounder to the Detroit Red Wings, hit me with a slapshot right in the face. That was probably the only save that I had to make that was tough, but it hit me right between the eyes.” » On his most embarrassing hockey moment… “Oh boy, what’s my most embarrassing moment? I don’t remember ever falling. Oh, wait, in Owen Sound in playoffs, me and Bear (Marc Baron), the equipment manager, have a ritual that he tries to trip me when we go on the ice. He actually did trip me and I fell in front of all their fans in the 4th game of the playoffs.” » On who has influenced him in hockey… “Definitely my dad. Even to this day he is criticizing me and helping me out with problems and stuff like that and pushing me to the next level. My dad is the one that got me started and has pushed me through all the years.” » On his pre-game routine… “Eat around 3 o’clock and take a nap, then leave for the rink around 5 or 5:30.” » On his typical day… “Wake up at 9:30 and I teach Learn to Skate from 10 to 11 and from 1 to 2. Then I have practice from 3 to 5:30 and then just either do homework or hang out with some of the guys.” » On teaching Learn to Skate… “Learn to Skate’s going well. I like teaching a lot. That’s what my major is in college. It’s going to be elementary education. I just like teaching little kids. It’s fun, something to do. It takes up some of my time and something to do in my spare time to give back to the community.”  » On learning from Ryan Nie and Justin Peters…
“Me and Niezy (Ryan Nie) got along really well. Everything that I learned here as far as learning the ropes was from him. Even to this day, I still talk with him on the internet or phone calls or stuff like that. Just staying in touch. He’s a real good friend of mine. Peters when he came in was a real good guy. He didn’t try to bring anything from his old team and went with the flow. Now he’s a leader on our team and he’s just as good of a guy as Niezy was, so both of them are equally good guys in my book.” » On the player he tries to model his game after… “I guess you could say someone like Martin Brodeur, kind of just a reacting, butterfly goalie.” » On if there is anything behind his jersey number… “Patrick Roy was my favorite goalie growing up, so I guess you could say that I idolized him. That’s where I got it from.” » On his nicknames… “Garay and last year it was ‘Shroom’ because of my hair and it’s starting to come back now.” » On his superstitions… “I’m not superstitious; I just have a routine that I like to follow. For example, right before the face-off I like to turn around and do the sign of the cross on my back. It’s not like I’m superstitious, I just do it for good luck.” » On why he dislikes the green jerseys… “I don’t hate the green jerseys; I think they are the best looking jerseys. If you want to call it superstitious, then I guess this is my superstition, I just don’t think I play very well in the green jersey.” » On who is the best poker player… “Tom Sestito.” » On his injury this season… “It was in practice. We were working on some drills with Coach Greg Stefan after practice. I tried to poke-check former Whaler Cory Tanaka and when I went to get up, I just pulled my leg in and rolled over top of it. It was just a fluke injury and I ended up tearing a ligament in my ankle. I couldn’t externally rotate my ankle, which is what you have to do to go into the butterfly, so I had to wait until that ligament healed and it was right around 3 months. It was probably the worst 3 months of my life because the only thing I like doing up here was pretty much taken away from me.” » On the toughest player he has played against… “Probably London's Corey Perry. He’s just amazing with the puck and him with Rob Schremp together were just a force I couldn’t stop.”  » On what he'd do if he didn't play hockey… “Probably just going to college and living the college life.” » On playing different sports… “I played football and I played baseball growing up, and actually I currently still play baseball. I played high school this past year, my senior year, and we went to the state playoffs. It was the first we went to the state playoffs in 15 years, so it was a good time for us. I got some looks from some colleges, but hockey is my passion so I stuck with that.” (Garay, playing for the Center Trojans, tries to avoid being tagged out in a high school game last season) » On choosing major junior over college hockey… “I went and watched an Ohio State hockey game and there were about 400 people there in a rink that seats about 10,000. In my opinion, it was one of the worst hockey games I have ever watched. Then I got asked to come to Plymouth to watch a game and the place was packed, it was loud, there was fighting, and it just seemed like a lot more fun to me. I figured if I was going to play hockey and try to make it in hockey, I’m going to do it the best way that I think I can do it.” » On his funniest teammate… “Probably Ryan Stephenson. He always has something to say about something.” » On what he brings to the team… “Intensity and just an edge that some goalies don’t bring to their team.” » On the craziest thing that has happened on the road… “Seventeen of us got stuck in an elevator in Erie for an hour and fifteen minutes. It was probably the worst hour and fifteen minutes of my life.” » On the person he would most like to meet… “I’ve already met Patrick Roy, so Marc-Andre Fleury.” » On the Steelers winning the Super Bowl … ”It was awesome. I talked to my buddies from back home and they all were pumped up about it and so was I. It was good for the city all the people packing down town. I just wish I could’ve been there to see it.” » On how the London brawl started… “An elbow pad was thrown at me and I picked it up. Then a player came over and asked for it back and I said ‘No’ and so he stuck me in the face. Then Gino (Pisellini) jumped off the bench and beat up their whole bench and then there were 2 guys on Chris Terry, our 16-year-old, so I grabbed one of them so he didn’t get beat up. Then (Justin) Peters fought (Adam) Dennis, so that’s how it went.” » On making history and sharing the shutout at London (2/10/06) with Justin Peters… “I only got 2 shots, so I really don’t want to take credit for that. It was pretty cool I guess since we will go down in history for it.” » On Gino Pisellini considering him a tough goalie… “Just during pre-season when I tried fighting every game just to see how I would do because I really like fighting. Gino taught me the ropes, so we’ll see how good of a teacher he is.”  » On what one thing he could not live without…
“Hockey.” » On the rule changes restricting goalies in hockey… “I think they’re kind of pointless to tell you the truth. There are not too many times a goalie goes into the corner other than me to play the puck. I don’t think it really has changed too much other than you just have to watch where you are playing it. I don’t think it has affected us very much.” » On how he feels about shootouts… ”I think the shootouts are very exciting. The game is about the fans and the fans love it when you go into shootouts. When a guy is coming down, I don’t really think too much. I try not to at least, just follow wherever he is going with the puck.” » On what TV show he would be on… “It would probably be the Real World and I’d be the guy that snaps all the time about stuff.” » On what other five players he would want on the ice with him… “Bobby Orr and Nicklas Lidstrom on defense. (Henrik) Zetterberg, (Steve) Yzerman, and (Pavel) Datsyuk on forward.” -Natalie Shaver, March 7th, 2006- -- Other Players' "Breaking the Ice" Features -- | 
