The younger Gregor is skating in the Victoria Royals rookie camp at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The elder Gregor also played on that same site on Blanshard Street, but in the old Memorial Arena, as a 20-year-old with the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Cougars after stints with the Portland Winterhawks and Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Colin Gregor was second in Cougars scoring to Gerry St. Cyr in 1990-91 with 23 goals and 50 points as the lowly Victoria franchise, in its downward spiral before moving three years later to Prince George, went 10-59-3. Gregor went on to better days, in terms of winning, at Acadia in capturing the 1993 CIAU national university championship. He attended three NHL camps with the Oilers and Flames before a minor-pro career in the ECHL with the Richmond Renegades, Birmingham Bulls and Hampton Roads Admirals.
Hockey and life came full circle for the Gregors in May when Noah, a five-foot-10 winger, was selected 55th overall by the Royals out of the Leduc Oil Kings in the 2013 WHL draft of graduating bantams. Colin’s other son, 17-year-old Liam Gregor, is headed to the WHL main camp of the Brandon Wheat Kings but is also signed by the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the Alberta Junior League.
“I’ve told each of my sons that hockey is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and to just concentrate on getting better each year” said Colin Gregor, who earned a business degree at Acadia and went on to a successful career in Alberta in business.
Colin has coached his sons coming up in hockey, right up to last season in bantam in Leduc with Noah, who obviously soaked up a great deal from the experience.
“He’s told me to work as hard as I can and focus on being yourself as a player,” said Noah, who will play this season with the Leduc Major Midgets.
“I’m a fast skater with good skill who likes to mix it up … and I think my dad was the same type player.”
Another player in Royals rookie camp with a father who played pro sports is forward Ty Westgard, taken 165th overall in the bantam draft over the spring out of Semiahmoo. Dad Chuck Westgard, a pitcher, was signed out of high school by the New York Yankees and played Single-A in 1983 with the Oneonta Yankees in the New York-Pennsylvania League before being derailed by arm problems.
The elder Westgard coaches the White Rock Renegades, one of the top girls’ softball programs in the province and country, and Ty grew up on the diamond himself as a pitcher in baseball. But he’s also pretty good in hockey and that’s the path he has decided to pursue.
“I’ve learned everything from my dad, in both baseball and hockey, because he played up to Junior A in hockey too,” said Ty Westgard.
The elder Westgard knows all about coaching kids at the developmental level — the latest Renegades player he has sent on is highly touted freshman pitcher Sara Groenewegen headed to the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the NCAA Big-10.
Royals rookie camp is the most significant step yet in the younger Westgard’s fledgling hockey career. Yet, as a lower end bantam draft pick, Westgard knows he doesn’t come in with the cachet of a first-rounder.
“My dad told me to do my best, don’t be nervous, and to keep my feet moving,” said Ty, who will play this season for the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget League.
No problems there, as coaches and scouts this week can attest.
The Royals rookies skate until Sunday. A select few will be invited to main camp, which begins Monday at the Memorial Centre.
