Former NHL left winger Stu Grimson has allies. Four to be specific.
They have and will guide the rest of his personal life as well as take him to opposite ends of the professional spectrum.
He gained the first before he ever turned pro. It brought Grimson from the depths of his earth-bound hell, a time when peer pressure ruled his life and the choices he made left him in a spiritual wasteland.
"I made myself miserable thinking I was in complete control of all my circumstances, but I was at a place where I was pretty immature and made a lot of wrong decisions in the process," Grimson said.
Grimson said he had trouble with responsibility. At the University of Manitoba while working toward an economics degree, Grimson used up nearly all of the money his parents set aside for him. Instead of calling them for help, he let his car insurance lapse. The next morning he was stuck by another car while coming out of his apartment complex.
Struggling to find the right path Grimson picked up a book with testimonials and stories from other athletes who had once walked beside him and faced the same kind of difficulties.
Grimson wanted what Christ and a life of faith had brought them: peace.
"They were enjoying an inner-peace in their life and it was that peace I really craved," he said. "It was a short time after that, that I made a decision myself to walk down a different path. I pulled myself out of the center of my life and so by virtue of my faith I put God at the center. When you put your faith in the creator of heaven, earth and the universe you come to a place where you recognize a lot of the things in your life are beyond your control. I think that's where I met that peace for the first time."
Ally number one was on his side and things started to turn around for Grimson.
"There is no single more important decision I have made in my life."
Grimson has had allies number two and three all his life, and they're partly responsible for giving him his hockey moniker "The Grim Reaper." His left and right fists have been in over 100 fights and have helped Grimson become the 40th most penalized hockey player in NHL history.
In 729 games with 10 NHL teams Grimson has spent 2,113 minutes in the penalty box, equivalent to 35 hockey games. In 2001, as Grimson's career began to wind down, he tallied 235 penalty minutes, the most in his career, and finished the season with the third-most in the league.
The final ally took Grimson two and a half years to gain and if he ever has to use allies number two and three the last one will come in handy.
Grimson earned his fourth from Memphis Law School on Dec. 10.
He first got the thirst for law school after he retired in 2002 from the Nashville Predators and returned to Manitoba to finish his undergraduate work.
However, he says, it was different from everything he's ever done.
"It's no comparison (to undergraduate work)," Grimson said. "I always say law school is a little bit more like college on steroids."
Memphis wasn't Grimson's first choice. He wanted to go to Vanderbilt but his grades weren't good enough to get in and the year he applied for one of 145 slots there were more than 4,000 applicants.
After spraying applications around Nashville, he found a fit.
"It ended up being the best value of a legal education I could have ever hoped to obtain," he said.
How long would a retired NHL player be in Memphis before someone recognized him? Even enrolled as Alan Grimson?
"It took about two seconds. It was funny," he said. "The way I was enrolled there I thought I might spend a fair bit of time, at least a few months, in relative anonymity, but I walked into orientation on day one then a young student who was a big hockey fan said 'No, wait a minute you're not the Grimson who played hockey in Nashville are you?' I blew my cover right off."
Grimson, a husband and father of four, spent all week in Memphis in a rented apartment away from his family, which wasn't easy to do after just retiring from a job that kept him away for a season at a time. He barely had enough time to talk. He spent so much time reading his nickname changed from the "Grim Reaper" to the "Grim Reader."
"It was tough on my wife. She had to do a lot of things on her own," he said. "She has really been a single parent for quite some time. It was a bit of a strain, but she and the kids have been really supportive. They are all glad to see it coming to an end."
Grimson credits his education with helping teach his kids a life lesson. While most children aren't able to see the effort of their parents in school, Grimson's four children were able to see first hand what it takes to be successful in a classroom setting.
"It's not me telling them what they need to do. It's me demonstrating to them what is required if you're going to work your way through a degree."
From fist fights to a law degree, Grimson wants to apply his new legal talents to the hockey world he's known his entire life.
"I'm weighing a couple options right now. I often thought about going off on my own and working as a player agent and then their exists an opportunity to work for the player's association up in Toronto," he said.
