The club began in 2001, when a few guys wanted to play some hockey at U of R. One thing led to another, they registered as a club, found a handful of other guys who still had the itch, and begged Coach, this mulleted dominator of the Richmond beer leagues, to lead them. For a little perspective, this is how the team looked in the fall of 2002...
Notice how we don't even have half the number of players you would find on a standard roster. Out of fairness, we were missing two players: Bevans, a great goalie who was forced to play out due to our short roster, and Forty, a fleet-footed, flashy defenseman out of prep school. Back issues forced Forty to play through severe pain during half of our time together. It was actually quite moving to watch and helped keep me going when I had serious self-doubt at the end. Both of them represent the way Coach's selflessness manifested itself in his players.The jerseys are straight out of the beer leagues, modeled after one of the crappiest jersey designs the NHL ever saw, at least IMO. The Godfather, Bernie, founder of the club, is the guy kneeling on the far right who looks like he dipped his chin in a bucket full of pureed Ring Dings. The stud in the black and blue pads on the left (yours truly) would have looked more comfortable in a high school JV game in 1999. I have a library of classic stories involving everyone in this photo, even the two quitters, and I could go on about this photo, but I'll just say that we had two things in common: 1) We all loved hockey and 2) We all looked like sex criminals. Oh, and one of those guys has a lower back tattoo of the NHL logo...
I didn't even plan on playing hockey past the first half of my junior year in high school. That was the last I had played, knowing I didn't stand a chance to make varsity. I focused on my studies and got into a great college. The summer before I got to Richmond (the same one when I met my future wife, btw), I Googled "university of richmond" + "ice hockey" on a whim and came across the primitive first website of this club. I sent out a "recruit inquiry," which I found was just a fancy name for Coach's email. He emailed me back and said he was happy I still had "the bug" and encouraged me to get in shape before school started so I could come to tryouts.
I ended up bringing my gear to school but chickened out at the last minute, thinking hockey was in my past and college was for trying new things. The day after the first tryouts had passed, "Zoo," Blondie at the right end of the second row, was going door to door looking for more hockey players to fill out the sparse roster. It's almost laughable to think about if it wasn't so pathetic as I look back now. Being the total gamer that he is, both in hockey and life, Zoo talked me into showing up for the next team skate (aka my first practice) and eventually pretty much every shady decision I made in college thereafter. Accordingly, Zoo is now one of the groomsmen in my upcoming wedding.
For a little perspective, 2002-2003 was the last year that UR Hockey wasn't a champion of some kind. He's how the team looked over the course of the next three years...
As Coach himself pointed out at the organizational meeting at the start of each season, "There's a lot of smiling faces in those pictures." The trophies piled up, the jerseys got nicer, but the bottom line was that we were happy. We were happy because we loved to play and because we got pretty good at it together. We played for fun because we played to win and winning was fun. Period.
Being a part of a winning team was certainly a highlight of my time at UR. In fact, I was considering transferring during my freshman year, and if not for the idea of sticking around and playing more hockey, I very well may have left. It wasn't just winning that made it for me, though. I never had a chance to be "the guy" on my high school and minor hockey teams. I got a late start and never reached a high level of play relative to other guys my age. My club teams never had winning records, and my school team was so good that I could never be a starter, much less a backup or third stringer.
At Richmond, as long as I put in the time and effort, I knew I would always have the opportunity to be the guy, and after two years of holding the clipboard and opening the bench door, I became a starter on a winning team. I earned some individual accolades, won some titles, and competed in a national tournament. None of this would have happened without Coach's commitment to the organization, holding things together so all most of us had to do was work hard in practice and games. Contrary to what most might think, I enjoyed my time as a backup. Coach made me feel just as important a part of the team then as when I was getting the majority of the starts in net. If/when I end up coaching a team of my own, I will always begin the year the same way Coach did, telling the guys, "Know your role; accept your role; love your role." I don't think I would have loved my role the way I did if T.O. hadn't been my coach. I hope I can have that effect on younger players some day.
This got too wordy several paragraphs ago, so here are some photos (many more smiling faces) of things that wouldn't have happened without Coach. They say more than I ever could.
We may have played like amateurs, but we celebrated like pros...
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