Growing up in Stoney Creek, Ont., a small community on the outskirts of Hamilton, Blair soon found his hockey skills in demand.

When he reached the age of 15, Blair joined the Stoney Creek junior team, which plays at the junior C level. Canadian amateur hockey has four levels of juniors: junior C the lowest, junior B, Tier II junior A and Tier I (major) junior A.

Players in Tier I are often very high NHL draft picks and have usually foregone higher education to play at that level. Tier II junior A is played at a slightly lower level, and involves far fewer drafted players. Many players in Tier II, however, go on to play collegiate hockey in the United States and Canada.

"I got to the point where I just turned 15 years old, just played my first year of junior hockey in Canada, and that's pretty good...At that point in time I had a feeling I could make something out of myself. My coach said I was fairly talented and I had a chance to be drafted into the major junior A...I thought maybe I had a chance to go to major junior A or maybe come to college."

Blair, as it turned out, was not selected in the major junior A draft and signed on the following season with Burlington in Junior B. Playing in almost every game, Blair guided his squad to the provincial championships with a 3.47 g.a.a.

And after the season ended, he was selected in the seventh round of the major junior A draft.

Rather than head to the major junior A team, however, Blair chose college--and thus a Tier II junior A club for his final year in high school. He turned down Hamilton, his local squad, and moved to Guelph, Ont., to play with one of the most highly regarded junior A clubs in Canada.

Blair's Guelph Holiday Platers junior A team was marvelous (40-4-6 regular season, 23-6 post-season) but eventually lost the All-Canadian finals in four straight.

"Grant had an outstanding season leading us to the Canadian national finals," Guelph Coach Don McKee--now the coach at Waterloo University--says. "He was an integral part of the cohesion on the team."

Blair recorded a 3.18 g.a.a. during the regular season, and cut that mark to 2.90 in the playoffs.

"He was a hockey player with identified potential who was approached many times by Brantford [a major junior A team]," McKee adds. "Grant was very serious. Early in his teens he had his path drawn where he was going to go."

Although Blair split time with Wayne McDougall, the other Plater goaltender, McKee made sure Blair played against the more competitive of the two teams the Platers faced on trips.

"We kind of complemented each other," says McDougall, now a senior at Union College in ECAC Division II. "His style is more flashy, he likes to kick up and he's one of the toughest goalies I've ever seen. I was more laid back, more mellow.

"They expected a lot from us. We had a super team. He had great consistency. And his flashiness in style kept the fans and our team in the game."

As the Platers made their run through the playoffs, the college scouts--who had been pursuing Blair furiously--began closing in.