MICHAEL DOHERTY / Observer-Dispatch
National Hockey League goalie Robert Esche, a Whitesboro native,
poses for a photo wwith 7-year-old Chris Schneid, of Cicero, in the
lobby of the Whitestown Community Center during the 2005 Whitestown
Robert Esche Travel Tournament, Friday, Jan. 7, 2005.
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Esche, 29, grew up in Whitesboro. He’s not
signed to any team so far this season, but is still hoping to land something,
he said.
Though he’s been playing professional hockey for most of his adult life, Esche
has remained committed to the Mohawk Valley.
His foundation, Save of the Day, grants wishes to very sick children in the
area, and now he has opened a restaurant, Aqua Vino at the former Kitty’s on
the Canal site, off Genesee Street in North Utica, on the Erie Canal.
The hockey player said his local focus wasn’t uncommon, and that many NHL
players keep close to their hometowns.
Observer-Dispatch: What’s made you keep a focus on the Mohawk Valley,
even though you’ve been successful elsewhere?
Rob Esche: First of all, I never really moved away. During
the hockey season, you have to be away, but my permanent residence is here.
I’ve been in a lot of big cites, I love big cities, there’s a lot of do there,
great malls, bars and restaurants, but there’s a lot of great stuff here.
As people get out and travel, they come back and bring ideas, and our
restaurant is just that. It’s something from a lot of ideas I got out on the
road.
O-D: What keeps you coming back here?
Esche: I think the thing I like the most and I say it all the
time, it takes a tough person to live here, Upstate New York isn’t the best
place to live in some ways. You get some tough winters, but the people here
and the community is just by far the best I have lived around -- and I have
been in some great cities.
It’s the combination of everything, it’s friends, family, and it’s an
extremely safe place to live. You can’t put a price tag on people’s safety;
the schools here are terrific.
O-D: Do other NHL players stay focused on their home communities like
you?
Esche: Yeah. I think anyone who knows me and knows my friends
in the NHL world would say we are a very down-to-earth breed. The NHL
generally is like that. They live in their hometowns. Most of my friends live
in their home towns.
O-D: Why do you think that is?
Esche: I’m not really sure. I just know why I like it, I
can’t speak for them.
Hockey is one of those sports where you have a cult following, your fan base
isn’t everybody, they’re only certain people who like hockey. In football,
every family watches it. Hockey is a very tough and demanding sport, the sport
itself has a great way of humbling us.
O-D: How does the restaurant business compare to hockey?
Esche: It’s different all together – hockey is so demanding –
you are gone from your family just like the restaurant business, so I’m kind
of used to it – in the hockey world, perfection is expected, just like the
restaurant industry. I don’t think there’s any correlation, other than they
are both pretty challenging.
O-D: Do you have any other local projects in the works?
Esche: I have three others, but they will have to remain with
me till they are done – I don’t want to throw anything out there before it
happens, then there are just rumors going, and I don’t want to do that.
O-D: Any hints?
Esche: No, absolutely not. I wish I could, but no, I’m sorry.
O-D: Anything else you’d like to say about your relationship
to the area?
Esche: My foundation is something I’m more proud of than
anything. Great people work on it and great people support it and that’s
really my favorite thing.
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