Ice Hockey with Pat
Patrick got to a point in roller hockey that I felt he needed to move up to ice. He had to many skills and had such a desire to play ice that I did what it took financially to make it happen. I think his biggest supporter was Kailtyn. She attended all his games and traveled whenever we had to go away. He began skating at Medford rink for the inhouse team named the Kings. They turned out to be pretty a pretty good squad. Their coach entered them in a tournament at Hollydell rink in S. Jersey. They won the tournament.Got some great shots of Pat from that tourny hanging in my office at work. They once had a member of the Phila Phantoms work with them on slap shots, the guy told me Pat's shot was wicked and the way he shot was text book. That made me proud. Next stint was with the limited travel Flyers out of Vorhees, NJ. They were a terrifically tallented team and nearly the entire squad was chosen to play travel A for the Flyers Youth 12 & unders. This included Pat. Well this was a boat load to afford and enormous time and commitment for both of us. But he wanted it so we found the way. Again, Kaitlyn led his cheering section and always supported Pat even onwhen he had a bad game. He was having the time of his life until his coach at the time decided that he should be an enforcer center rather than a defenseman which he played his whole life. Hell, even Jim Watson, formally with the Stanley Cup Champion Flyers of the '70's told me what a natural defenseman he was and to stick with it. I guess this coach knew better than an All-Star NHL Defenseman. It destroyed hid season to the point that he benched Pat for the hits he told him to make. Patrick had just lost his Poppy days earlier when this guy desided to try and wreck my boys dream of playing hockey. Pat quit playing for close to 2 years but picked it back up when I moved to Philly with Marion. Me and Justin would go get Pat out in Jersey twice a week and bring him to NE Philly for practice. Every Saturday or Sunday we all would go to his games to root him on. He was again on top of his game as a defenseman. His 14 & under squad won the Flyers limited travel championship that season and there were more than a few memorable moments that we always look back on an enjoy the memories that we all shared. Fights where he dropped 2 kids from Pennsauken for boarding him and he called out their entire team including their coach who tried to egg him on. That led to a 3 game suspension for him and Pennsaukens coach. Marion almost got him tossed out for saying Pat should have kicked all their asses! Me and Ken went up in the stands because the other parents were insulting Pat. I tried to hop a 4 ft wall and couldn't do it, still get laughed at today for that from all the kids. Then there was Atlantic City where these kids were clobbering our kids and taking runs at them with no calls. Pat caught their best player skating with the puck through center ice with his head down and did a Scott Stevenson on Eric Lindros. He flattened this hit like a truck hit him. All hell broke loose and spilled into the dressing rooms. Game was call and we got the hell out of AC. Ironically they beat AC to win the title and they did it on Pennsaukens rink. The best part of the playoff run was they beat Vorhees 14 & under squad to reach the title match. That team was the team Pat was with as 12 & under that he left because of the coach. They had a new coach, but he was with the team also at that time. He went right up with his son that Pat had played with and they congradulated him and were proud of the way he came back after what had happened before. That was Class.