| He lives in
a cottage on a lake in Ontario, and goes out early sometimes to fish or sail. He has a
bride there too - Barbara - who's been his wife only a month. Ron Plumb was nearly a
forest ranger and not a hockey player. He is a woodsy guy who likes sunshine and things
that grow. But when the junction came, he chose hockey. There was something thrilling
about the game that wouldn't let him go. "It's a spur of
the moment thing," he whispers, "when you pick up the puck and head down ice and
don't think about anything." It was a hard decision at the time, but he is happy
about it now. Hey, you've got to do what you like," he says. "Wherever it takes
you." Where it has taken Plumb is away from his bride and his cottage and to
Cincinnati where he says, "I keep getting lost." Nevertheless he's sure
"things have worked out for the best."
The Stingers are looking to him as the pillar of their
defense. Director of player personnel Jerry Rafter shakes his head and says, "If it
weren't for the politics involved, he'd have probably been an all-star last year at San
Diego." Rafter's eyes followed Plumb gliding around the rink at Golden Skates where
the Stingers opened training camp Saturday. "It isn't very often you find a
defenseman who can do everything." he says "Ron skates like a forward and can
score and still plays tough, rough, hard defense."
To think he almost didn't play hockey at all. My next to my last
year in the junior league (Peterborough) I got a scholarship from Michigan Tech."
Plumb explains. "It was a four year deal where they pay for everything. I'd been
thinking about going into forestry and that offer really sounded good. I was so close to
going I thought about it for a long time. It was a big decision for me. The problem was I
had to go before playing my last year in the juniors or I wouldn't be eligible. I wanted
to play in the pros but I was 18 or 19 then and I wasn't very sure of myself. It was a
point where I had to choose between taking a chance on hockey and all the insecurity that
goes with it or go to school and go into something like forestry, something with a little
security. I decided to stay my last year and play hockey. It was a hard choice but you've
got to do what you like."
Had he played out that final season of amateur hockey and then not
been drafted. Plumb says "I don't know what I would have done from there." It
doesn't matter as it turned out. Plumb went in the first round to the NHL's Boston Bruins
"and things have just kept going for me ever since." Beginning in 1970, Plumb
played two years for the Bruins' Central Hockey League team and was then drafted and
signed by the World Hockey Association team which subsequently became the Philadelphia
Blazers and then the Vancouver Blazers. The Stingers acquired him from Vancouver just
before last season.
When he heard he'd been dealt to Cincy, he says, "It really
caught me off guard. I thought, hey, hold on. Cincinnati isn't even in the league yet for
another year." Then Rafter called him and explained the situation. Plumb was placed
last season with the San Diego Mariners where he excelled scoring 10 goals and 48 total
points as a defensman. "Playing in San Diego helped me," he says. "We made
the playoffs and I just got to feel real good about playing."
So he's "looking forward" to this season. "There's
good personnel on this team," he points out, "and the new hockey rink downtown
is nice. a nice place to play." And, "he grins, "the money's good. That
too." There's not so much insecurity anymore. Plumb says his wife will join him here
after training camp when he's settled in somewhere. And the cottage will still be there
next spring when he goes back. Things have worked out for the best," he declares.
"If I hadn't made that decision back then, I guess I wouldn't be here now. I've
thought about it a lot since, but I think the decision was right." |
