Press Release: March 2, 2014

March 1: Kearsarge 0 vs. Cardigan Mountain 0 (Proctor Academy)

Last weekend the Kearsarge Bantams lost a tight game to Plymouth 2-1 on the campus of Plymouth State University. The following day Kearsarge played a stingy Keene team at Proctor Academy and got goals from Matt Jarvis and Alfie Rylander to win 2-1. The win helped erase a ‘not-so-good-taste’ in the mouths of Kearsarge players and parents after an effort at Plymouth that was, shall we say, a little bit lacking in team energy. Honestly, in the 72 hours prior to that Plymouth game I had watched several Olympic Hockey games on TV from Sochi, and I thought that may have clouded my expectations some. Then I heard several others mentioning the lack of energy, etc. and I realized it wasn’t just me. But hey, that was last month. Old news. We move forward.

Saturday at Proctor Academy, Kearsarge played their last game of the 2013-14 season. The foe was a familiar one in Cardigan Mountain School. The parking lot at the Proctor Academy rink was full, even beyond full actually, as Kearsarge High School finished their regular season game, an overtime affair. Cardigan had their travel vans squeezed into the lot among the many vehicles strategically placed amid the ice and snow banks. The skies were a dark grey, the kind of grey that could open with an eruption of snow fall. But the wind was calm, and all was still outside the building while memories unfolded inside. With the low grey ceiling of cloud cover, the lots filled with cars, the snow banks providing their barricades, and the hill climbing away from the northwest corner of the Proctor Academy Campus through the Ragged Mountain State Forest, the setting was oddly quaint.

As for the game, it reminded me a little bit of where we started this season, and how the loop of this season gracefully closed. Saturday’s final scored read 0-0 on the scoreboard. But there was more to it than that. The game was a good one actually. Both teams played hard, they played good defense, and goal tenders made excellent saves. The physical play from previous games with this team was replaced with some passing, some good hockey hitting, and some respect for the game over the temptation of laying out a defenseless opponent. The game was better for it. There were things to complain about I suppose, such as a 5-on-3 advantage squandered by the home team, when no adjustment to the sequence of lines being played all game or even all season, rotated through their line changes per the norm. But then there was the sensational saves made by Corey Henault in net to get excited about.

‘The loop’ I referred to a moment ago closed with a scoreless tie. It started with the first game played back in November, a scoreless tie at Proctor Academy, when none of us knew each other or knew what to expect. This group of kids from the ‘island of misfit players’ found themselves competing together for Kearsarge Youth Hockey, largely based on teams they didn’t make. And as a tribute to all of the younger generations ever, they came together, put differences aside, and blended together better than most adults ever do, to compete as a team and play a game. So, when I stood alongside the boards back in November among parents I did not know, I remember us asking ourselves aloud, what in the world are we going to see here today? We saw more than we expected then, and as the season went along our expectations outgrew our kids at times, as often happens with parents. In the end, the kids competed. They played hard. They tried to play the game the right way, and they cared for each other along the way. The season ended, alongside the boards at Teddy Maloney Rink on the campus of Proctor Academy, right where it started, in a scoreless tie.

The path along the loop wasn’t always well-marked, clear, or even uniform. Like every passage of time involving groups of people, there were ups and downs. There was the battle between atmosphere and competitiveness. There was the conflict of accountability versus the pleasure of having a good time. There was the joy of a team playing for moments, whole periods, and entire games of team hockey in wins and losses that lead to confidence and expectation. I write these words in speaking for myself of course, with hopes that others in the parental ranks either agree or at least relate. To me, in the end, the atmosphere won out. People create atmosphere, and this one was fun to be around. Good people. Good intentions. Good effort. Good times. Thank you to all the players, the coaches, the board members, the people working the rink and games, and the parents for contributing mightily to another six months of hockey memories. This season will always be ours, together, as a group pulled together at this time and this place to get through together.

For those of you with kids trying out for various youth hockey teams around NH in the coming weeks, I would suggest you keep an open mind, and remember it’s about the kids. These teams, these moments, these competitions against one another are huge to them, bigger than we remember, yet more manageable than we forget. If your player doesn’t make the team they are shooting for, or if you want an alternative that may pleasantly surprise you, consider playing for Kearsarge Youth Hockey. I get no benefit from suggesting this, but I am doing it anyways. The ice at Proctor is as good as you will find in NH, seriously. Ask any of the players or coaches. It’s cold in the rink, real cold, but the ice is great! The tuition is reasonable to say the least. Yes, the road to get there is full of frost heaves now, and there was more snow and ice to contend with than you might like, but the atmosphere will leave you wanting more if you take a few minutes to notice. For a ‘not-so-big’ organization, Kearsarge Youth Hockey really caters to the kids and those of us who get them to the rinks. Good atmosphere, good people, worth a look.

Finally, I wanted to say thank you to you all for welcoming Sebastian to the program with open arms. Thank you for the warm welcome to our entire family and all the time various folks spent caring for, playing with, or keeping an extra set of eyes on Jacqueline and Theodore. Thank you for the opportunity to help out with score sheets and putting up with us. I am also grateful for all of the feedback these articles have received. It’s been my pleasure to share; positive or critical, I hope it’s all been received for what I intend this to be, about the kids, and more specifically, the betterment or development of kids into fine young men and women. Thank you and best wishes moving forward.