The Story from the Senior All-Star Classic

This write up isn’t the same. No, this one is different. This game wasn’t the same as all the rest. And from my seat at the Rinks of Exeter, maybe my glasses were slightly rose-tinted. Yesterday’s Senior All-Star Classic was fun. It was some pretty good hockey with most kids playing on lines and combinations of players that were completely new to them. But the game didn’t suffer because of it.

A longtime friend whom I deeply respect, asked me simply this morning, “Where’s the story?? I’ve been waiting for it!!!!!” Well, that was enough to prompt me to throw a little something together here.

Here we go. There was a Senior All-Star game out in Exeter, NH yesterday afternoon. Senior hockey players from NH Division I and Division II schools were assembled from the All-State teams as well as other nominated and worthy senior players to round out the rosters. Teams were split into two rosters, Team White and Team Red, and off they went.

The game was a good game. The final score after 45 minutes of regulation time and an additional 8 minutes of overtime was 5-5. There wasn’t the usual high school aggression of kids forgetting the hockey play in order to try and run someone over which was incredibly refreshing to see. Which isn’t to say the game wasn’t physical, but it was much more about hockey. Truthfully, that was a treat for all of us.

 

Maybe, as I said, my view was slightly tinted, if not romanticized a bit, watching many players perform in some sort of hockey swan song. Team Red was the visiting team, which obviously made Team White the home team. Here is the scoring from the game. I let you all figure the points from the rosters posted here as well.

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Players made great plays. The energy was high. The spirit was sincere. Players didn’t want to be shown up. Players wanted to play the game well. And they did. There were some outstanding passing combinations that led to goals, and still others that resulted in saves, but no less wonderful. There were breakaways and brilliant saves. It was a good, team-first type of hockey.

The blue lines trip more players than any other entity in hockey, although the blue lines are rarely whistled for penalties. Yesterday, the blue line closest to me snuck up behind the smooth skating Fred Holmes from Portsmouth-Newmarket. Holmes was skating backward and the blue line, in its’ cynical way, tripped him, sending Fred into a backward somersault that he pulled off with brilliance, even sticking the landing. Judges gave him high scores for the move. The goal posts and crossbars were rung with enough percussion as not to be forgotten. Hockey basics were apparent and employed as players unfamiliar with one another worked the plays and structures that have been instilled into their subconsciousness since their earliest hockey beginnings.

I don’t know, maybe it was just me, but it looked like the players were playing loose, free, and just having fun. It was beautiful really. Like the in-season pressure to perform was replaced with the first instincts of playing to be better, to improve. Like when a young athlete plays for the fun that is found in the freshness of creativity and joy of skillful self-discovery. Yes, I know that I often see things from a different perspective but I also heard several players use the words, “it was fun” after the game. And isn’t that why most, if not all, of these kids continued down the long path of youth hockey to begin with? I hope so.

The 2019 Senior All-State Classic will be recorded forever as a 5-5 tie. But I hope that the players will never forget it. Some players may well have played their last youth/school hockey game yesterday. Maybe that’s sad, maybe it’s just life moving forward. And maybe the young were just as happy to chat with their friends in the lobby after the game because many of those bonds will never end. I wish all of the players nothing but the best, whether or not their futures include hockey. But then the game that has helped mold these players and personalities was here before them, and it will remain long after these players hang up their skates. It is a great game. It’s a great backdrop from which families and individuals grow. Usually, I say that the pleasure is all ours, but yesterday I think the pleasure was theirs. As it should be.