LAVAL - Before every game, Michael McNiven kisses his glove and then points upwards. The little salute is a tribute to his grandfather, who is unfortunately no longer around to witness the feats of the young man he helped raise.

McNiven grew up living with his grandparents, who took him in at a young age.

"It was amazing to be able to grow up with them. They had already tons of kids," he said. "My dad and mom weren't really suited to look after me at that point, so I was really lucky."

His grandfather was retired and had plenty of time to take his grandson to practices or to training sessions at the gym and was always there to provide a helping hand. Hockey was his grandfather's sport, but his grandmother preferred soccer - so she would take the lead come summertime.

"He was literally at every single workout at the gym, he would sit there and watch and make sure I was working hard. Practice, games, all the way through, he was always there," recalled McNiven. "Maybe a few times when he was going through cancer, my grandma or friends from my team had to take me to practice. But even when he was sick, but healthy enough to be home, he was taking me to everything and making sure I was getting there on time, making sure I was practicing hard enough. He was a good mentor and role model for me. Without my grandparents, I wouldn't be here today."

Sadly, just over four years ago, McNiven lost his role model when his grandfather was just 70 years old.

"He was still young, my grandmother is 70 now. [It was] around Christmas. Christmas is a tougher time for me now. He was battling cancer for a few years," explained the 19-year-old netminder. "He seemed to be healthy after that, but I believe it came back, and he didn't really tell anyone; no one really knows."

Some believe that in life, things happens for a reason, and in McNiven's case, while it was a tough period for him to endure, he was also afforded the opportunity to spend some quality time with his beloved grandfather.

"I was actually really thankful, because that was my first year of Junior and I ended up getting cut a little way into the season, probably 10 games into the season. [I was] sent down back home," recounted the Habs prospect. "I had a few places I could go play Junior A hockey, but I chose to stay home and play for the Georgetown Raiders. The rink is two minutes away from my house, and my grandfather was there.

"No one really noticed him being that sick at that time. It was more around November, early December when he started getting really sick, in and out of the hospital every other day. He was in the hospital when he passed away. He was really, really sick for a couple of days. [He died] about a month or two after. It was nice to be able to spend that time with him."

Suddenly, everything that had happened hockey-wise made sense.

"It felt like it was meant to be, like it was planned all along. I'm happy I was able to do that. Growing up, I was a huge Georgetown Raiders fan. Probably my favorite goalie ever played there. My grandfather used to work for the team, he was an equipment manager/assistant kind of thing. I went to every game until hockey started getting too busy," remembered the young backstop. "I knew most of the staff, they were happy to have me, the owners [too]. It was nice to be able to go there and have [my grandfather] only have to drive two minutes to watch me play a hockey game."

When Jim McNiven passed away, Michael started seeing his own father more often, and his dad came to see most of his games while he played for the OHL's Owen Sound Attack.

"As I started getting older and my dad started getting on his feet, he was there most of the time with my grandfather. My mom was out of the picture basically my whole life; I lost contact with her when I was four or five years old," confided McNiven. "When my grandfather passed away, my parents gave me the option to get in contact with my mom and I did."

Unfortunately, McNiven wasn't treated to a storybook ending.

"I didn't look into it too much; I was pretty busy with hockey and trying to focus on that kind of stuff," he explained. "When I first started talking to her, it was nice and a big thing for me, not being able to talk to her my whole life growing up."

The reunion of sorts was short-lived, however, since McNiven's mom passed away just over a year ago. Another painful event, surely, but McNiven admits that it wasn't the same as when he was forced to say goodbye to his grandfather.

"I didn't really know her, to be honest. Whenever she could get on the Internet, she'd always message me and say hi. I was hoping, too, to finally go and meet her within the next few years. That didn't work out," he lamented. "I had a lot more stuff going on in my life at that time. I had stuff to focus on, and I had already been through a hard time with my grandfather. It's kind of sad. It was a pretty big priority for me to get to meet her."

The loss McNiven has experienced in his life has certainly helped speed up his maturation process. And the role his grandfather, Jim, played in his hockey career is bigger than he ever could have imagined. He is and will always remain his greatest source of inspiration.

"Every day when I come to the rink, it's my mindset that I'm not just playing for myself, but I'm also playing for him now. When times get tough and things aren't going my way, it's something that keeps me grounded, thinking about him. I would know exactly what he would say to me in those situations," concluded the Laval Rocket goaltender. "In hard times, I'm always looking up and thinking about him."