CORNWALL, Ontario – Doug Carpenter’s hand shook just a bit before he put pen to paper, and then looked up.
“I’m more nervous than when I signed an NHL contract,” he quipped.
The famed major junior and NHL coach was signing the first official copy of ‘A Royal Career – Conversations with Doug Carpenter’ for friend and fan Wes Libbey.
The book was put together by Cornwall Judge Gilles Renaud, who lives beside Carpenter west of the city.
The neighbours, at the urging of Renaud, collaborated on the book which is now on sale. Orders (cost is $30, tax included) can be made though, by emailing ConversationswithDougC@hotmail.com.
There will be a book signing Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Cornwall Public Library. All proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards the Children’s Treatment Centre.
Renaud had often thought of penning a local sports biography – but the hard part was convincing a modest and very private Carpenter to spend hours talking about an athletic journey that took him from learning to play hockey on neighbour Otis Cain’s outdoor rink to the bright lights of the National Hockey League.
Renaud wouldn’t take no for an answer. He admitted to “harassing” the former NHL coach until he finally gave in last year. The result is a splendid account of one of Cornwall’s best-known sports personalities, said Seaway News columnist Claude McIntosh.
“It is a book that is long overdue and a must read for the thousands of fans who followed his career,” said McIntosh.
Carpenter was head coach of both the New Jersey Devils (1984 to 1988) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (1989 to 1991).
He won a Memorial Cup as head coach of the Cornwall Royals in 1980.
