What most people do not know is that Crusader Hockey began as a labor of love.
The year was 1971, the year we started the team, and I was a junior at Bishop Canevin High School . Mt two best friends and fellow classmates were Bob Macek and Gerry Mazocca. Bob was a bit of a dreamer. One day, he pulled Gerry and me aside and told us this idea he had for starting a school hockey team. Let me first point out that none of us had ever played hockey. Not only that, none od us knew how to skate! that didn't matter as this was not about the sport of hockey, it was about love.
Two seemingly unrelated, but vitally important evets had occurred which led to bob's quest. He had fallen for a sophomore-- who did not know he existed-- and whose name I can't remember! At that time the movie
"Love Story" was a big hit. By an incredible coincidence, Bob's romantic interest looked exactly--or at least close enough for Bob-- like Ally McGraw, the female lead in the movie.
"Love Story" was about two young kids from different backgrounds who get past their initial dislike of each other to eventually find that they were soul mates. Bob saw his sophomore girl as a stand in for Ally McGraw and himself as Ryan O'Neil, the male lead.
There was only one problem:except for the fact that the girl dies in the end, Ryan O'Neils character was a hockey star at Harvard. Well, Canevin did not have a hockey team. So, Bob figured if we started a hockey team, all the pieces would be in place to re-create his own personal "Love Story" except Ally McGraw dies in the end and none of us knew how to skate!
In the end, it sounded like a reasonable idea to Gerry and m, so we approached Mr. Sutton our math teacher about coaching the team. I don't think he ever played hockey before, but he was a good math teacher and was a bit gullible, so he fit the bill. Besides, if we called him "red" Sutton, at least his name sounded like he was a coach! We the tried to find students who knew how to play hockey--or could at least skate.
That year we played our first game at the Bridgevill Ice Rink. we were so bad we were down 14-0 at the halfway through the game. We were so bad that the other team gave us some players during the last period so they could at least have a decent practice!
Bob fared better--winning the girl of his dreams. But the movie are not real life and they broke up a couple of months later. However, the team did much better at the sport than Bob did in romance.
And, as they say, the rest is history!
-Dr. Francis (mick) McCaffery--
Bishop Canevin '72
