HIGH ACHIEVERS: Vegas athletic therapist Mike Muir bringing Stanley Cup home to Frank Ryan Park

By Martin Cleary

If Mike Muir wants to revisit a healthy slice of his childhood athletic career this week, all he has to do is walk to the deepest portion of his backyard at his family home on Pinewood Crescent.

There, he could survey the vast Frank Ryan Park with its two baseball diamonds, a basketball court and a wading pool as well as imagining a hockey/skating rink in the winter.

Instantly, the memories would come alive.

“It was a nice spot to grow up in because there was always something to do,” Muir said during a visit to his family home this week.

In the winter, it was hockey.

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“I’d play with my friends. It didn’t matter your age. We’d throw our sticks in the middle and pick teams,” he added.

In the summer, he learned about baseball through the Frank Ryan Park Little League program for four years, playing in the minor (ages 9-10) and major (11-12) divisions. When fall came, the baseballs were replaced by footballs.

Muir was predominantly a shortstop, but he had the ability to be a reliable utility baseball player elsewhere in the infield or the outfield.

“I wasn’t a great hitter. That was the story of my career. I was better defensively than offensively,” Muir said. “But it was nice to have the opportunity to play with my friends and have fun.”

On Monday, Muir, 59, will again step onto his Field of Dreams, but not to hit a baseball, throw a touchdown pass or score a game-winning goal between a pair of snowball goal posts.

Muir, who has been an athletic therapist for the past 40 years and holds that position with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, will bring the Stanley Cup to Frank Ryan Park as part of his day with the oldest existing trophy awarded in North American professional sports.

Frank Ryan Park is located at 950 Alpine Ave., in Ottawa’s west end. The free outdoor celebration with the Stanley Cup will take place between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Parking is available on Stuart Kettles Street and Pinewood Crescent.

The event also is a fundraiser for the Ottawa West Little League Baseball Association. Anyone can have a photo taken with Muir and the Stanley Cup by making a donation to the Ottawa West Little League Baseball Association.

And now, a history lesson.

In 1971, the Britannia Little League was renamed the Frank Ryan Park Little League. Sixteen years later, the Frank Ryan league merged with Carlingwood Little League to become Carlingwood-Frank Ryan Little League. In 2014, Carlingwood-Frank Ryan Little League linked with Pinecrest Little League to form the Ottawa West Little League Baseball Association.

The fundraising aspect of his day with the Stanley Cup is important to Muir.

“I remember as a kid the coach showing up with a bag of equipment. That’s what we used. In a way, this will help. I want to raise funds for helmets, bats, bases, etc.”

When the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1 in the 2023 best-of-seven Stanley Cup final, it was the first time Muir had won professional hockey’s top prize. He has been the Golden Knights’ assistant athletic therapist for the past six years, celebrating 1,000 games of service recently. Muir recently signed a three-year contract.

But when Los Angeles won the Cup in 2012 and 2014, he was invited to join the team in the stretch run as the athletic therapist and strength coach for the Manchester Monarchs, the Kings’ AHL affiliate. He worked for Manchester from 2006 to 2015.