BARRY’S BAY – As the Opeongo Heritage Cup fast approaches, the Kashubian Griffins women’s team will be mourning one of their own.
Grace Glofcheskie, a 24-year-old woman who tragically passed away in December 2015, will be honoured on April 1 prior to the 10:30 p.m. women’s game. Although he did not reveal any details, Commissioner David Shulist said there is going to be a special tribute to the former Kashubian Griffins player. Grace’s teammates will also be wearing a special patch on their jerseys with the initials G.G. to remember their beloved friend.
Although born and raised in Arnprior, Grace spent a lot of time in the Madawaska Valley.
Her dad, Gerard, grew up in a house with his siblings behind the former Shell gas station owned by Anna Etmanskie. Their parents, Bronis and Zita Glofcheskie, were schoolteachers at St. John Bosco Catholic School. Grace’s great grandfather, Johnny Glofcheskie, owned a taxi service in town and Elizabeth Shalla, Grace’s great grandmother, was a schoolteacher in Barry’s Bay.
Gerard and his wife Nancy moved to Arnprior and have been living in the same home for 31 years. Together, they had four children: Luke, Adam, Grace and Rachel.
From a young age, Grace was drawn to competitive sports, including hockey. At the time, Arnprior did not have a girl’s hockey league, so when she was seven, she joined the boys.
Renfrew and Arnprior eventually recruited enough girls to form the Madawaska Girl’s Hockey Association. Grace loved playing with the boys and continued playing full body contact until Grade 9, and then decided she would stick to girl’s hockey.
During her high school years, she was captain of the rugby team and the girl’s hockey team.
“She loved sports and she worked hard at them,” Gerard said. “She loved her family. She was everything you could ask for in a daughter.”
Get your March 30, 2016 edition of The Valley Gazette to read the full story.