Henry Dumouchel
Henry Dumouchel is best described as a journeyman athlete and organizer. He played most games in the realm of sport expect the one he loved the most, football. The reason Henry didn’t star on the gridiron was due to his leaving high school before the era was launched and Stan Fraser became the Frank Clair of Gaels.
Henry is among the fading numbers who played their first hockey in Glengarry Gardens away back some 40 years ago. He played on defense in the bantam and midget leagues. At this tender age Henry was scouted, not an NHL scout but by Father Gautheir seeking to bolster his Lochiel, “Butch” Bellefeuille and Warner Lapierre, by that great sportsman and Hall of Fame member affectionately known as the “Parish Priest of Glengarry.”
Playing with Alexandria juniors the next year the team met with an unfortunate incident in the playoffs with Finch while Winchester and Metcalfe were settling their semi-finals round. Henry and his Alexandria team defeated Finch in the seven game series earning the right to the league final, ODHA officials noted that Alexandria inadverently omitted filing Jim Maville’s playing card hence the team was disqualified. But Henry’s disappointment didn’t end with that error. Henry was chosen along with Kent MacSweyn and Claude Lanthier to play with Finch in the league final. But again the offcials ruled the three players ineligible due to the previous suspension.
Henry Dumouchel played box lacrosse the “pickup” brand with the youth of his era which is another example of his interest both as a player and organizer of athletics.
When broomball became a popular winter recreational sport again Henry was in the forefront among the Alexandria leaders. The next winter when Gerald McDonald entered his Greenfield team in the Cornwall City League, Henry played with Greenfield.
The closest Henry Dumouchel got to his favorite game of football was to play “touch football.” He helped to organize a four-team league and played with Alexandria. The other clubs were Williamstown, North Lancaster and Lochiel. Tow years later Alexandria folded the were replaced by Loch Garry.
As a result of Henry Dumouchel’s skills leadership and intense interest in sport activities he was appointed sports officer to the local Col. A. G. F. Macdonald Canadian cluded in particular table tennis, shuffleboard and horseshoe pitching tournaments.
Since 1983 it has been back to hockey again as an organizer and player, too, donning the blades after an absence of 15 years. Henry organized the area Old Timers’ Hockey League comprising six teams six years ago. They play every Saturday in the Maxville and District Osie Villeneuve Arena. Among the reasons Henry Dumouchel has played a leading role in Glengarry’s realm of sport is heredity. His grandfather Sandy Dougall McMillian in the pioneer era of Glengarry football, now soccer.
