Amherst hockey's favorite son
Marchant first product of town program to win Stanley Cup
by DAVID F. SHERMAN Managing Editor
Used pair of kid's hockey skates: $40.

Todd Marchant hoists the Stanley Cup overhead after his Anaheim Ducks defeated the Ottawa Senators on June 6 to win the best of seven series. Photo by Dave Sandford, Courtesy Getty Images

A wooden stick and some tape: $25.

Watching your son skate around with the Stanley Cup: priceless.

That has been life experience of the Marchant family of East Amherst, as they realized a precious dream June 6.

(See related story on page 22.)

Peter and Sue Marchant were in the Honda Center in Anaheim that night when their son, Todd, and the Anaheim Ducks drubbed the Ottawa Senators 6-2 to capture the Cup in five games.

Todd Marchant is the first product of the Amherst Hockey Association to reach hockey's unreachable star.

A graduate of Mill Middle School and Williamsville East High School, he was named to the Williamsville Education Foundation's Wall of Fame in 2003.

Marchant played 10 years for the Amherst Hockey Association and had great success on its powerhouse travel teams. He made his NHL debut in 1994 with the Edmonton Oilers, where he played for 10 years. After one season in Columbus playing for the Blue Jackets, he joined the Ducks in 2005.

Each summer for the past eight years, he has run a hockey skills development camp at the Amherst Pepsi Center. This year's program runs from July 23-28.

He and others associated with the camp have donated more than $46,000 to local charities "to help kids less fortunate achieve their goals," he states on the camp's Web site.

"The second and equally important reason that I started this hockey school was to try to give something back to this community. It is my hope that with your help . . . we can continue to help make their dreams come true."

The man who runs the camp is proof positive that dreams really do come true.