The season was done at the end of March. That spring of 2018, Hockey In New Jersey decided to field teams for spring hockey. They had U12 and U10 groups. None of the kids in our group were selected for these either, even though kids are able to play up.
I asked the hockey director about it, just in case there was a chance they could still take Rusty. He said they actually considered putting him in the team and that he was the first of the ones they cut. I forget exactly how he phrased it, but basically, he was supposedly the best of the rest. I wasn't sure whether to believe that, but it was nice to hear.
He said they could have made room for him, but he wouldn't really get a lot of playing time anyway and that he would let me know if things change. I also asked if Rusty could at least practice with them, and he didn't give me a straight answer. I never did hear back about it the rest of that spring.
So I decided to look around online for options. I found some hockey camps, but they were pretty far from our area. And then I saw that the team in the next town, the Wranglers (fake name but you can probably tell which team this is), were holding free pre-tryout clinics. I wasn't sure how to assess Rusty's skills at that time, and I couldn't understand how it could be really free, so I decided not to take him there. In retrospect, I think he would have had a good chance to make a team at that point, even if a low level one.
Once those sessions were done, I checked again and saw that there was a spring clinic, from March to June, and it was only twenty-five dollars. So I signed him. I also told Bert's and Ernie's dads about it. I think I told Turtle's dad about it, too, but I think they were too busy as he had made the spring hockey team.
It was good. The three mosquitoes got to spend more time together. Some of coaches' kids would show up sometimes. It was good for them to be around kids who had already done travel hockey, and it made them more competitive. The trio were better than some of the clinic kids, so that gave them confidences in their skills, and the travel kids were better than them, so that motivated them to get better. It was a good mix.
The friends got better at the sport and had a lot of fun together. It was a gradual development. Nothing really popped skills wise. But they were different players from the start to the end of the clinic.
One thing I noticed, though, was that Rusty was not able to do cross-overs. I can't remember if Ernie could, but Bert was pretty good with it already. Coach Etan called them bagels. He would say to the kids, "I want full bagels! Give me full bagels!"
We did other sports that spring. I signed up Rusty for swim class. (That's another story for another day.) We went back to tennis, as usual. We started playing baseball, just on our own. As I was working for the baseball and hockey network at the time, I figured we should be involved in both sports. I moved to a different department, and it was actually my new boss who gave us used adult and youth gloves, batting gloves, cleats, bats and a gear bag. That was nice of him. We also had Carnival Day at work, and that was a ton of fun.
And at some point, we went to Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange. We had been coming here for years, but it was only this year that I noticed there was an indoor ice rink there. It was right at the entrance, and it never caught my attention before. So I checked for public skates times, and we went back there. Rusty improved a lot at this time, again just with me studying YouTube videos and telling him how to do it without myself being able to demonstrate. We worked on power skating, hockey stops and crossovers.
Among other things, we worked on flipping forward to back, back to forward, C cuts and backwards skating. One time while skating backward, Rusty bumped into a girl about his age, and she fell. I got mad at him for not checking where he was going, and he got upset at himself. He kept skating while the girl was down, and I chased after him to give him a talking to. The girl was all right, and she got up right away.
While I was talking to Rusty at the other end of the rink, a door by us opened, and there was the girl's mom. She yelled at us about how he knocked her down, and we just skated away without apologizing. I tried to explain that Rusty was upset at himself for what happened and hadn't composed himself yet, but she was - understandably - too enraged to see our point of view. I got Rusty to go over there and apologize, and he mumbled, "Sorry" to the girl.
We went back there once or twice. I also found public skate times for Floyd Hall and Union Sports Arena. I kept a list of indoor rinks' public skate times and took it with me whenever we went out. Sometimes when we are done doing something, I would check my pocket schedule and see that this rink is only a few minutes away and there's a session starting soon. One time we hiked a trail in Montclair before going to Floyd Hall. So that was how our spring and summer went.
In the summer, there was Hockey In New Jersey camp at Prudential Center. We actually planned our vacation around this and went to Cape May the week before. I took a combination of days off and night shifts at work in order to be there during the day. When we arrived early, we were able to catch some of the Devils practicing. This year we mostly saw Keith Kinkaid and Pavel Zacha there. That was fun. And of course, it was great seeing the familiar faces of the kids, parents and coaches from the program.
One morning, Ken Daneyko showed up to help with the clinic. I was excited for Rusty. He has seen the highlights of his hits, and he really enjoyed his ESPN commercials as the office enforcer. He didn't notice Kenny skating around with them, as Rusty was playing a game at their station. I can't remember the name of it, but they were going under each other's legs. Well, Rusty went under this kid Ty, who was not a very good skater yet, and Ty lost his balance and fell right on Rusty's head. He was basically sitting on it.
It was then we heard this loud scream echoing all around the rink.
A coach helped him up, and Rusty sat in the penalty box. I walked around and checked on him. I tried to point out that Mr. Devil was there skating with him. He didn't care. I let him rest there, and eventually he came back on. Near the end of the session, the kids were asked to pose for a group picture. Ken Daneyko went up to Rusty and asked if he was all right. And then the New Jersey Devils legend put his arm around my kid for the picture.
Here is a picture of Kenny talking to Rusty:
And posing with him:
It was only days or weeks later on that I would learn that Kenny actually recognized me from work. I would sometimes wave or nod to him, but we never had a conversation. I sat next to the Production Manager's desk, where staff and talent would sometimes gather so I must have been a familiar face. I never know what to say anyway, so I mostly kept quiet, although I would actively listen in on the conversation sometimes, and they would make eye contact and not be bothered by it. Sometimes they would try to engage me, but overall, I just kept to myself instead of risking saying or doing something embarrassing.
Anyways, way after hockey camp was done, Rusty just casually mentioned that Kenny asked, "Does your dad work at the baseball network?" And Rusty said yes. After the group picture, as the kids were lining up to get off the ice, Ken Daneyko called Rusty over again. Then he waved to me. He said, "Take a picture!" So I did. Here it is:
Anyways, that was pretty cool. Even though he doesn't know my name, I never imagined Mr. Devil himself would recognize me.
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