Now residing in Toronto, Kerry Goulet was born and raised in Winnipeg, and it was there that he starred in junior hockey and later in ball hockey. His Winnipeg Grasshoppers represented Manitoba in 8 national ball hockey championships, collecting the title in 1985. In 2006, Kerry was inducted into the Canadian Ball Hockey Association’s Hall of Fame and credits his experience with Hockey Manitoba and ball hockey with assisting in honing his skills for a successful international ice hockey career that saw him spend 16 seasons as a player, coach and general manager with six different teams in the German 1st, 2nd and 3rd Division. Known in Germany as ‘Mr. Eishockey,’ his 1997 points collected in 505 games earned Goulet the honour of having his jersey (#29) retired by the Timmendorfer Eisbars along with fellow Winnipegger Mark MacKay. At the age of 52, he was asked back to his old club in Germany attempt to collect 2000 points….which he did with a 5-3 win contributing a goal and two assists.
One of Goulet’s hockey and ball hockey teammates, Robert Vielfaure who we lost a few years ago, suffered a broken neck that left him in a quadriplegic 40 years ago. Using Robert’s injury as motivation, Kerry has dedicated much of his off-ice energy to charitable causes, with his main focus on concussions and spinal cord injuries in sport. One of the lessons learned by Robert’s plight Goulet recalls was; “It is not what you collect along your journey…championships, scoring races, trophies, money, cars…. but what you give back, that will be your legacy.”
Goulet is one of the founders of StopConcussions Foundation, with Keith Primeau, former captain of the Philadelphia Flyers and is Co-Chairman of Shoot for a Cure. As Global Director of Stopconcussions, Goulet has formed an alliance with Barry Munro of the Canadian and American Spinal Research Organization to re-launch “Shoot for a Cure”. This is a campaign that has and will help educate coaches, trainers, parents and athletes about the cause, effects and consequences of neurotrauma injuries.
Another new initiative being planned is “The Alliance”. As Goulet suffered three documented concussions while playing, he personally realizes the challenges of coping in the darkness of this injury. This will be a program that supports all athletes from every sport and skill level and gives them an opportunity to be properly diagnosed with a concussion. The Alliance will underwrite a flight and accommodation, as well as cover costs for the first diagnosis of the injury of those athletes who are unable to cover the costs themselves. “This is a very important purpose of my work, some players are forced to leave the game because of the effects of this injury and are unable to find their way after the game. Often times these players are unable to obtain or maintain employment and I want them to know there is light in the dark tunnel and give them hope by getting their concussion properly diagnosed and managed,” Goulet states.
Goulet has also helped develop, along with Malcolm Sutherland, a new prevention platform known as Safe4Sports which has recently launched this April 2017 at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.