He wasn't blessed with natural scoring talents and had to work extra hard to get ahead. That tenacity has drawn at least one comparison to Bruins great Terry O'Reilly.
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But Garnet Hathaway, now a tough customer with the Bruins, knew exactly what he was serving. At age 11, he had worked the fish market at his family’s restaurant. He had all the proper permits and certifications. His father, who owns a lobster processing company near their home in Kennebunkport, Maine, would sell him prime product.
It was trapped and shucked and cooked and kept on ice in 2-pound bags. It was delivered to a 7-foot cart that was sourced from a sausage vendor at Fenway Park. It was mixed with mayonnaise (or melted butter, if you prefer), salt and pepper, and laid on a grilled bun. It was $14 with a bag of Cape Cod chips and a soda.
“It was an adventure,” Hathaway said, “learning how to run a business and how to train for hockey.”
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, Hathaway & Co. owned the corner of Westminster and Weybosset streets. They also worked a Jimmy Buffett concert, flea markets, and move-in weekend. They spent a week at the Fourth of July festival in Bristol, R.I., feeding crowds along the parade route and sleeping in their truck.
That was nothing compared to Hathaway’s hustle in hockey.
Before his days at Brown, Hathaway was a student at Phillips Academy in Andover. In the fall of 2007, the boarding school’s campus buzzed about the new hockey transfer, Chris Kreider, a junior from Boxford arriving from Masconomet High. He and Hathaway clicked instantly.
“A relentless person and a relentless competitor,” said Kreider, who scored a career-high 52 goals last year for the Rangers. “He figures out the path required to help the team win. It doesn’t matter what sport. It could be tiddlywinks.”
On the ice, Hathaway’s aggression overmatched his skill.
But he made the Andover weight room his corner of Westminster and Weybosset. Then-Bruins assistant general manager Don Sweeney, always plugged into prep hockey and formerly Andover’s dean of admissions, took notice.
Kreider, on track to becoming a first-round draft pick, saw Hathaway pushing his limits. He pestered his family adviser to work with him.
Matt Keator wasn’t that interested.
He only had so much time to work with prospects, and “honestly,” Keator said, “he was not that good. He was OK. Kreider told me I had to take him.”
Current University of New Hampshire coach Mike Souza, who recruited Hathaway to Brown as an assistant there, had work to do.
“He was a competitive but raw hockey player,” Souza said. “He ran into everyone, and I mean coaches, teammates at practice. But he was going to run over someone on Friday night.
“He knew nothing but working his [butt] off, and it kept opening doors for him.”
In July 2013, he competed at Bruins development camp in Wilmington — wearing No. 68, which had some cracking wise about Jaromir Jagr — and then took a Pittsburgh invite the following week.
“The hardest, most intense hockey I had found, in a 14-day span,” Hathaway said. “I was exhausted at the end of it. I gave everything.”
A player no one wanted has carved out a niche by being …
“I can’t use the language I would use in the locker room,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “He is a very valuable player because everybody on the other team is aware of him. They know he’s on your bench. They know he’s on the ice.
“He understands momentum. Like, if you watch him on the bench, there’s not often times he’s sitting down being quiet. He’s talking to the other team. He’s talking to his teammates. He’s completely involved in the game.
“Not only how he disrupts what the other team’s thinking about but how well he builds our team game is very underrated. He understands how we want to play, real quick. He understands our routes we want to run with the puck. He understands our routes on the forecheck.
“He’s heavy. He’s mean. He’s a Bruin.”
When he was traded here, a common reaction was that it made sense. Ken Linseman, an onlooker at a hockey camp in Maine, once nicknamed a young Hathaway “Little Taz,” after his rambunctious teammate Terry O’Reilly. Hathaway’s style fits the mold.
“It’s a huge compliment,” Hathaway said. “I grew up going to the Garden and watching Bruins games and dreaming of one day being out on the ice. And it was a huge compliment being traded here. Being wanted by the best team in the league.
“They’re the top team in the league and they went out and traded for two forwards and it’s me and Bert [Tyler Bertuzzi]. That’s how this team wanted to improve. That’s what they want to add to be successful and continue to push to be better.
“So I hear that and it’s amazing. Man, it just makes me want to go out and do it.”
Undrafted, unwanted, and now, valued across the league. Not bad for someone who wasn’t that good.
“But he always showed up on the scoresheet,” Keator said. “I’ve loved working with him. Straightforward, honest, good guy. A better pro than a college player.
“No doubt he had to get to pro hockey to become as good as he did, because of the style of play. He can get away with being Garnet Hathaway in the pros. You can’t do that in college.”