Western Mustangs forward Sean Courtney, left, searches for the puck as a member of the Concordia Stingers looks on during Canadian Interuniversity hockey action earlier this season. (Western Mustangs Athletics)

The voice on the phone sounded chipper. My nephew had just come from the dentist's office with a smile on his face. One of the sixth teeth that had been knocked out of his mouth during his junior hockey career was infected but might not need to be pulled after all. It may just need a root canal.

Sean Courtney always looks on the sunny side of life. It's that positive disposition that has galvanized him through a hockey journey full of glorious moments and too many discouraging potholes.

When I first saw Sean on skates, he was all of 8 years old. He and his dad had found a small frozen pond on his grandparents' cornfield outside London, Ont. It was Boxing Day and holiday tournaments beckoned. Young Sean was bound and determined to master a saucer pass over that corn stalk before the sun went down that day.

Canadian pastime

Growing up in Peterborough, Ont., hockey was a daily staple in his young life. Hockey, hockey, hockey. Morning, noon and night. The bedroom he shared with his older brother Ryan was a hockey shrine, decorated with the medals, ribbons and photos. Sean was well on his way to becoming one of the region's best young players. His big brother Ryan was already in the OHL and he was determined to join him.

In 2001, Sean Courtney and another lanky centre named Corey Perry led the Peterborough Petes to the Ontario Bantam AAA Championship. It wasn't even close. Peterborough was undefeated. Courtney was the tournament MVP. Perry, the leading scorer. The junior scouts drooled.

Perry would become a first-round draft choice of the OHL's London Knights. His meteoric rise as a Memorial Cup and later Stanley Cup champion with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks is well documented. The Erie Otters chose Courtney in the third round. He was only 15 years old when he went to training camp - he wouldn't turn 16 until October - but the sinewy forward with a lightning-fast draw and a ploughman's work ethic made the team, joining NHL prospects Brad Boyes and Carlo Colaiacovo.

Courtney waits for the action to begin during an OHL contest between his Erie Otters and Windsor Spitfires on April 21, 2002. (Photo courtesy of Courtney family)

Away from home for the first time and living in the United States would be a significant adjustment. But Courtney thrived amid the steep competition of the OHL.

The Otters, assembled by the shrewd judgment of general manager Sherry Bassin, were good. After a disappointing loss to the Plymouth Whalers in the conference final the year before, they were poised to go all the way during the 2001-2002 season. Up three games to one against the Barrie Colts in the best-of-seven OHL championship, Bassin entered the locker-room between periods of Game 5 to make an offer. "A thousand dollars to the player who scores the winning goal," he said.

That money would go into Sean Courtney's pocket. The Erie rookie scored in overtime, delivering Erie its first OHL title. It was a rookie season to behold, tempered only by the disappointment of the Otters' loss to Victoriaville in the semifinal of the Memorial Cup.

Tough times ahead

But it wasn't long before the business side of junior hockey threw Sean Courtney a nasty curve. It was his third season. The trade deadline was looming. Geoff Platt, a high-scoring forward with the last-place Saginaw Spirit, wanted out.

"Platt had issues in the locker room," said Courtney. "His teammates packed his equipment and left it outside the door."

The Otters were rebuilding after losing NHL draft picks like Boyes and Colaiacovo. Courtney was fourth in Otter scoring and a role model in the community, but he had not been able to replace the scoring prowess of two-time OHL MVP Boyes and Platt was a bona fide sniper no matter how bitter his split had been in Saginaw.

The pros aren't the only hockey players who sign autographs. (Photo courtesy of Courtney family)

After telling Courtney his future was safe in Erie, the Otters traded their link to their first OHL title to the Saginaw Spirit.

It was Jan. 6, 2004. Courtney was crushed. It was an emotional and quick goodbye as he stood in the Otters locker-room in tears, hugged by coach Dave McQueen.

The next morning, he set out for Saginaw, Mich., driving through the notorious snow squalls of Lake Erie's hazardous south shore. It was 6 a.m. He passed jack-knifed tractor trailors and vehicles in the ditch. The winds were so strong the hood of his car blew up and smashed into his windshield. A passerby offered a bungee chord to tie it down for the rest of the stormy trip.

He got to Saginaw in time to play that night then meet the new family he would be living with. The Spirit were the OHL's worst team and in turmoil. Courtney had three different head coaches in Saginaw and was traded within a year.

On the road again

Next stop, Windsor Spitfires. He said goodbye to another billet family and left behind unfinished college courses. The school year was already half over when he arrived in Windsor. His hockey career, once filled with so much promise, was teetering on the brink of self-doubt and disappointment. He was like so many other journeymen, shuffling from city to city, living the dream. Except for him, the spirit of the game was quickly lost in the shadows of the business realities.

By the time he turned 20, Courtney was entering his fifth year in the OHL with his fourth different team. The Kitchener Rangers signed him as an overage player. But fate would be cruel. The season was barely underway when he was forced out of the lineup with a serious groin pull. He was no sooner back on the ice when a bodycheck from behind sent him head first into an open gate at the visitors bench. Putting his arms up to protect his face, he broke his arm on the straight edge of the door.

This time, he would miss nearly a month. Frustration set in. He had played only seven of the first 20 games. Determined to play, Courtney was back within four weeks, playing with a cast on his arm. But just one day after returning to the team, another freak mishap ruined his plans. It was a Friday night home game in Kitchener against Owen Sound. Courtney jumped over the boards on a line change. A teammate hit him in the face with a slapshot.

"I lost my two front teeth and shattered my pallet," he remembered.

"I went straight to the dentist that night and had my teeth put back in and my pallet sewed up." He didn't get home until midnight but he was back on the ice at practice the next morning.

Courtney would not play another game for the Kitchener Rangers. The team cut him Sunday night, just two days after he underwent dental surgery to repair his mouth.

Injuries took a toll

"I wasn't playing as well as I knew I could because of all the injuries that season," he said. "The coach [Peter DeBoer] told me, 'it was unfortunate the way things turned out, the series of unfortunate events - the bad luck.'"

DeBoer sympathized with Courtney's run of misfortune, but was matter of fact about the situation. "He was an over-ager and we had only three positions for over-agers on our team," he said. "We couldn't afford to wait two months for him to get healthy. He went on waivers."

After a lengthy junior career, Courtney, wearing the purple jersey, chose to move closer to home to pursue his studies and hockey. (Western Mustangs Athletics)

"Obviously, they were not going to give me time to heal," Courtney said. "If you're old (he was 20 at the time), you've got to help them right away. So, I went home to Peterborough and took some time to heal my mouth. My wrist and my groin were still bothering me too."

That week, Courtney fielded calls from across Canada and the U.S. Tier 2 junior teams were clearly interested in a player with OHL pedigree. He landed in Omaha, Neb., playing for the Lancers of the United States Hockey League, a development league for players seeking NCAA hockey scholarships. Having played the highest level of junior hockey for nearly five years for less than minimum wage, Courtney was enticed by their offer.

"Omaha promised me $3,000 up front plus $800 a month and a part-time job. There was no written contract. It was under the table because players are not allowed to be paid in that league if they want to keep their NCAA eligibility." But Courtney didn't last very long in Omaha. Three weeks to be exact. He was fully recovered from all of his injuries. The problem this time was his skates. They had been falling apart that season. It's not uncommon for junior hockey players to go through two or three pairs of skates a season. Courtney's skates were more than a year old.

"Kitchener put off ordering me skates because I was always injured," he said. "I told Omaha I needed skates and they said they'd get me some." It never happened. The leather boot was coming apart at the seams. Courtney tried taping it. The team's equipment manager tried to stitch it up. Incredibly, one game while killing a penalty, his foot came right out of his skate.

"My foot was half in, half out," Courtney said. "The coach was yelling at me, 'Is that how they taught you to kill penalties in the OHL? What's wrong with you?'"

The Omaha Lancers and Courtney parted ways just before Christmas. He never saw a cent of the money he was promised.

Falling in love again

The Grand Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League signed Courtney immediately. Less than a week before Christmas, he hopped a plane from Omaha to Toronto, then Toronto to Grand Prairie. He played two games on Dec. 21 and 22, then came home just in time for Christmas. After a short holiday break, he was back in Peace River country, 3,000 kilometres from home.

For the first time in years, he was excited about hockey.

"Grand Prairie was amazing," Courtney said. "In my first practice, they saw my skates. The coach, Fran Gow, sent me to the store with the team credit card to buy a new pair and they paid me a $1,000 bonus right away."

Tier 2 junior A hockey was a far cry from the bright lights of the OHL. Courtney had made a Tier 2 team as a 15-year-old in Port Hope, Ont., before deciding to play his final year of Bantam AAA. That decision was made easy when one of the team's veteran tough guys punched him out during a team scrimmage and Courtney lost four of his teeth in the process.

Now 22, Courtney is at the University of Western Ontario in London working toward a degree in business. (Western Mustangs Athletics)

Playing in Grand Prairie was a step back, but also a huge leap forward. It rekindled Courtney's love for the game. "I improved more in Grand Prairie than I did in my last three years in the OHL," he said. "The coach gave me support. He wanted me to do well."

He finished the season in Alberta and left the junior ranks behind.

He has since gone back to school and is currently playing hockey for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in London. He turned down generous scholarships at other universities to be closer to home and family.

Long journey home

During five years of junior hockey, from Erie, Saginaw, Windsor, Kitchener, Omaha and Grand Prairie, Courtney had been billeted with nine different families. He now lives with his grandparents, Lloyd and Shirley Courtney. His bedroom looks out on that frozen cornfield where he once worked on his saucer pass as a child.

"I know I'll be in the same place for more than three months," he said.

His education in the world of business at Western is being paid for by, ironically, the scholarship he negotiated when he was first drafted into the OHL at the age of 15.

But Courtney has not given up on the game even after yet another setback. In November, he suffered torn knee ligaments in a game with the Mustangs and underwent surgery in December. It cost him a chance to join his team at a Christmas tournament in Germany.

But he's already in rehab.

"I'll be back next season," he said. "Without a doubt, hockey has made me a stronger person. Life experiences are what make you who you are. It was stressful for my family. My Mom's not a big hockey fan anymore. But I know there's no point dwelling on the past. You move forward."

For every pothole along his hockey journey, Sean Courtney has stayed the course. He's still out there looking on the bright side of life.