Sunday, April 24, 2022
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I hadn't seen Mike in about 15 years. We'd lost touch over time as he moved to the States, started a few businesses and I got my Education degree and moved to Calgary and had started a family.
But I'll never forget Mike. His passion, strength, intellect, love of hockey and genuine personality all stand out when I think of him. When Scott reached out and told me he passed I was devastated. Even though we'd not seen or talked to each other in years. I stood in the kitchen telling my wife about him and our years as friends and I said "Mike was the brightest light in the sky..." When I read his obituary and it said "Mike was a supernova" I ran, almost in tears, to show my wife. Everyone who knew Mike saw it and knew it. As his obituary said " His light burned so bright that you were lucky to be caught in its warmth." and I feel lucky to have called him friend.
We played hockey together and were on the same team a couple of times (see pics) but we also played street hockey in the summer, and trained at our various positions together, though Mike was far more intense than I was. We went to the same elementary school, we were Regiopolis Notre-Dame Panthers representing our school on the School Reach team with our friend Josh (see the pic), we played KBA baseball together, rode bikes all over the neighbourhood looking for somewhere to play tennis, we both LOVED his mother's Firebird and always had a good time together. Sure, there were disagreements... Gretzky and the Kings were better than the Habs (until the Kings lost to the Habs in the Stanley Cup finals...) and Mike was a goalie while my job was to put pucks by him.
Mike was so incredibly smart, but didn't ever make you feel stupid. He recruited me for the School Reach team at Regi... that was where the smartest of the smart kids had Jeopardy-like trivia contests. I thought 'Mike must think I'm smart if he's asking me!' and when I told him that he said "we really just need you for your movie and TV knowledge. Leave the rest of it to us." And he was right. There were questions on quadratic equations, physics, biology and, occasionally... Superman!
I last saw Mike in 2004 or 2005. I was working at Chapters in Regina, Saskatchewan and he and his wife happened to come in while he was there on business. We chatted and caught up but this was before cell phones so we didn't get a picture. We stayed in touch a bit and I followed his many triathlon's and Iron Man's but, as happens, we lost touch again. I wish I'd made more of an effort to stay in touch.
The supernova that was Michael will not be forgotten by those who knew him, least of all me.
My sincerest condolences to Nadine, Kayla, Scott, Lois, Robert, David, Laurie and all his family and friends.
You were, and are, so loved Mike.
Godspeed my friend
