My second cousin Charlie V. has been playing hockey since he was a 'mite'. He's been a goalie for almost as long and, now a high school freshman, is a goalie on his school team. That team was on local cable last night, playing another area team. Charlie's team is not very good this year. In fact, they came into last night with just one win on the season. Still, I was looking forward to seeing the game, which started off with a flurry of goals by both teams and Charlie on the bench.
When Charlie took in for the sophomore in goal midway through the second period, his team was down 4-3. He was tested right away---and responded by making a sweet save. Pretty soon the guys doing the game were tossing around words like "stellar", "tremendous", and "wonderful" to describe Charlie's play. It's not as if they knew who he was; he is after all a freshman goalie on a bad team. They were simply responding to what they saw. Sure he's a relative, but the kid was definitely impressive. From the moment he stepped in, he looked like a goalie and moved like a goalie. You couldn't help but notice that this kid was serious.
The game ended in a 4-4 tie. The same kid scored all four goals for Charlie's team. Fresh off an injury, he scored all four goals last week in the only game the team has won all season. It's been that kind of year, but the second half of last night's game had some spunky defensive plays and sparkling goaltending.
Charlie is already looking into hockey schools in New England. Maybe his love for hockey is in his blood. His dad is, after all, from Slovakia.
