Rhode Island loses hockey lifer in player, championship coach Mike Gaffney
The close of this Interscholastic League hockey season coincided with the loss of a giant in the state.
Mike Gaffney died on that Saturday morning, the end of his extended battle with cancer. He was 73.
The announcement made during the championship tripleheader at Schneider Arena brought the crowd to a hush. The obituary posted by the funeral home hosting his calling hours was typically understated. Teacher, guidance counselor, coach “for many years” — it was like describing Picasso as just some nondescript painter.
And that’s certainly the way Gaffney would have wanted it. He was a man of few words with the media — quite a few more on the ice with stick and whistle in hand. His career spanned from player and assistant coach at Providence College to coach at multiple Warwick high schools — Toll Gate, most notably — and his alma mater, La Salle.
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“One of my dad’s dear friends and the most influential coach I ever had outside of my father,” wrote Tom Eccleston, son of the Burrillville legend. “As honorable a human as you get.”
The most admirable line on Gaffney’s resumé? Where to begin? How about this: he was unwilling to settle. Toll Gate ascended the old Met B standings in the 1980s and could have made a comfortable home there — he demanded more.
You’ll find multiple coaches over the years who would have protested — on or off the record — about a move to a division featuring the state’s Catholic powers. Gaffney asked for it, welcomed it and pushed his team onto level footing with the likes of Mount St. Charles, Bishop Hendricken and La Salle. Any trip to Thayer Arena included some rough treatment from the old Toll Gate Zoo — the adopted nickname of the Titans student section — and three periods of hard action on the ice.
Gaffney’s own sons were some of his best players, but he was aggressive in building a roster by any legal means. Toll Gate’s vocational school was a forerunner of the pathways and magnet programs currently employed by some districts to boost enrollment. Hockey in the state was limited to fewer communities at the high school level — South County in particular was underrepresented, and more than a few of those kids suited up for the Titans over the years.
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Gaffney was among the coaches who broke the gender barrier prior to girls hockey's founding as a separate entity in the early 2000s. Sara DeCosta notched a shutout in the 1995-96 state finals series against the Mounties before moving on to an All-American goaltending career with the Friars and a pair of Olympic teams. The basic rule in Gaffney’s program at Toll Gate was pretty simple — the best players, those most worthy of wearing the sweater on a given night, received the ice time. Period.
Gaffney followed the loose creed of Ralph Waldo Emerson — leave a place better than you found it. He retired from the Titans following the 2002-03 season and they went on to capture the next two state titles under Will Parker, breaking the 26-year Mount St. Charles streak. Gaffney had to know there was significant returning talent in his locker room, but he wanted any new coach to enjoy a somewhat seamless transition. It was typically honorable and selfless.
Gaffney’s own championship finish came a decade later. He was coaxed back onto the bench with the Rams and led them to a title in 2014-15 — their first in 38 years. He quietly notified athletic director Ted Quigley of his intention to retire at the team banquet, and that was it — Gaffney was done after four decades with almost no fanfare whatsoever.
Gaffney’s belief in his players both in the high school and Warwick Junior Hockey ranks was practically visible. It’s the greatest gift you can offer to any kid at that age — a high standard, a fair and firm daily demand to find something more inside. It’s not a coincidence so many of his alums went on to greater successes both in coaching and in life — Mike Boyajian at Warwick Co-op, Rob Jackson at Smithfield and his son, John, at Prout School immediately come to mind.
Gaffney leaves his wife, Debbie, their seven children and 21 grandchildren. His is a legacy that will continue through them both inside and beyond the rink for decades to come. It’s one that deserves to be celebrated even if that would be certain to invoke a humble word or two of protest from the man himself.
Donations in memory of Mike Gaffney can be made to the Thomas G. Cavanagh Memorial Fund, 25 Nathaniel Greene Dr., Warwick, RI 02818.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island hockey lifer Mike Gaffney has died
