Following a 15-year professional hockey career, former Albany Academy standout Craig Darby felt retirement was best for his family.
With the decision made, Darby hung up the skates following the 2007-08 season after playing with HC TWK Innsbruck in a league in Austria and headed home to the Capital District.
Darby grew up in Colonie and now resides in Saratoga and has found success in real estate while enjoying life at home.
"When I finished hockey, I jumped right into real estate," Darby said. "I finished my career in Europe and I knew what I wanted to do when I came home. I got my real estate license and within a month or so, I started with CBRE Albany and I've been there 12 years. I'm an associate broker there, I represent all four components, buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords."
Darby, who scored 21 goals to go with 35 assists in 196 career NHL games while skating for Montreal, the New York Islanders, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, reflected positively on his hockey experience.
"I did have a good run, 15-years pro, not too many people can say that," Darby said. "I did make it to the show for a bit, that is always the main goal is to get there. Of course, you want to stay as long as you can. I enjoyed it, there was always a lot of pressure. There was always someone behind you trying to take your job away, the pressure of performing, if you are not performing, they find ways to get rid of you. Nothing came easy, I didn't make it right away, I went through stages of getting called up and getting sent down a number of times each year for six, seven years of my career. To keep persevering so to speak, to keep my head down, knowing I was good enough and waiting for my chance to make it, I did that."
Being based in the Albany-area all of these years has helped Darby maintain connections in the game, from his former teammates on the 1991 state champion Albany Academy team to the school itself, where he served as an assistant coach with the Albany Academy for Girls team, one that included his daughter Cristina, now a member of the Nazareth College hockey team.
"When playoffs were over, come summer time, I always came home to the Capital Region," Darby said. "Those are the things (the state title) you remember. You remember the guys on the team, Coach (Dave) Rider I see, he is still there. There is a bond, you just don't forget it. The same thing when I won the Calder Cup with the (Philadelphia) Phantoms, I've lost touch with a number of guys on that team but the bond you have when you see them, it is different. From a team standpoint, winning it all is a wonderful experience."
Darby registered 99 points during the '91 season for the Cadets and some tough circumstances in the state championship game prevented his bid to hit the century mark for the season in scoring in his final game before being selected 43rd overall by Montreal in the 1991 NHL draft and playing two years at Providence College.
"The funny thing is, I was at 99 points and the last game I played was in the state championship and I got a 10-minute misconduct with seven minutes left in the game," Darby said. "I looked at going to juniors because at the time, Albany Academy was at the high school level. That was a huge decision for my parents and myself to stay at Academy. I have great friends from the Academy days that I'm in touch with. It is a very good quality school. I can't say enough about the school and the teachers, I really enjoyed going back and coaching."
Darby, who still laces up the skates in leagues in Saratoga and Glens Falls, has adapted life lessons learned both on the ice and on the road to his everyday life and his children, Kyle and Cristina.
"I look at it, I said it all the time to my kids, if you are going to do something, do it right," Darby said. "Just have the mentality that today might not be great, but tomorrow is another day. In this job, there is disappointments and rewards, just try to have an even keel. If you work hard, good things will happen."
It has been a tale of two lives in a professional sense for Darby, with similar hard work leading to success on the ice and then to the office and, most importantly, since 2008, being home.
"I don't regret retiring when I was 35, I could have played at least another two or three but it was the right thing for my family at the time," Darby said. "We were going to Europe. My wife and kids would come over, they would go into the school system where I was and then go back to and go to Saratoga for the second semester after Christmas break. It got to a point where I was living away from my family for a couple months and it got to a point where I looked at it, the reason wasn't right. My son was making the transition to middle school and I just felt like it was the right thing to do with my family."
Sean Martin, a local freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union
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