Scott Darling’s ascension from forgotten draft pick to starting goalie has been one of the compelling stories to emerge from the NHL playoffs.
Lesser known is the Chicago Blackhawks netminder’s relationship with former Flin Flon Bombers winger Deven Stillar – a friendship that helped spur Darling into living up to his potential.
Journalist Damien Cox recently profiled the men’s friendship for Sportsnet.ca.
In 2011-12, Darling and Stillar were teammates and roommates for the Mississippi RiverKings of the Southern Professional Hockey League.
By that time, Cox writes, Darling had overcome a drinking problem and was piecing his life together.
“[Stillar] hadn’t known me when I was struggling away from the rink, but it hadn’t been that long ago,” Darling, now 26, told Cox. “I told him all about it, and he understood. He knew I wanted more, I wanted to move up and be successful and I wanted to do the right things.
“If I didn’t play well, I’d be pretty hard on myself, and we’d go out to dinner afterwards and he’d have to listen to me complain about why I couldn’t stop pucks. He helped me get through it.”
With a laugh, Darling described Stillar as “my sounding board for all my grievances with life and existence.”
Mutual benefit
For his part, Stillar said Darling “was a sounding board for me as much as I was for him.”
Stillar, now 25, told Cox of the pair celebrating Darling’s sobriety with dinners and other outings.
“We both knew by then he was headed in the right direction,” Stillar said. “You can tell the guys who are in the last stages of their careers, and the guys who are just happy to be in that league. He was going somewhere else.”
While Darling went on to playoff heroics in Chicago (though he has since been returned to backup status), Stillar moved to Toronto to pursue an acting career.
Stillar’s short list of small roles includes parts in Be My Valentine, a TV movie starring William Baldwin, and A Fighting Man, a straight-to-DVD drama whose cast included James Caan and Louis Gossett Jr.
Stillar was a fan favourite when he spent the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns with the Bombers. In 100 regular season games, he had 121 points.
