When forward/journalism major Jesse Liebman needed an assist, he looked to see if his teammate/photographer Pete Keeling was open to shoot. Keeling was, and he snapped off the above photo for Liebman's story on local hockey figure Travis Roy, who was paralyzed from the neck down in his first shift for the Boston University Terriers.
It wasn't the first time a Lion called upon his teammate for help in an off-ice endeavor. Last month I enlisted my former defenseman Mike Sullivan to shoot the documentary I'm editing right now. Former Captain Matt Porter and I covered two years of Beanpot and Hockey East tournaments. Luke Hanlein, Jacob Migicovsky, Zach Wilson and Chris Collins have rallied and involved fellow players around their film projects.
These examples only form the tip of the iceberg. Though I don't yet have the luxury of being connected to Emerson hockey's past, I would not be surprised to learn of hundreds of instances in which Lions have parlayed their on-ice cameraderie into successful off-ice collaborations.
My Dad, a recreational hockey player himself, once said to me: "Hockey friends are the best kind to have. They always seem to stick around."
I think that's because we as hockey players and fans are passionate people. We care about the game we love enough to wake up for 6am ice slots, endure the unending costs of equipment maintenence, and get hit with a hard piece of rubber every once and a while. Here in the states, we fervently support our teams and our game in the face of a sports hegemony that often acts like we don't even exist.
We love a great game, and we will not go quietly when the naysayers cast their doubts. We soldier on and get back up from every hit. We drive the net until the final buzzer and settle for nothing less than a big win.
I think that applies to our interests outside of hockey as well. Whether we're aspiring journalists, filmmakers, photographers, sound technicians, actors, etc... a common passion for working together to win runs through our veins and unites us.
And that's a great recipe for success.
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