Someone questioned how kids can keep playing and enjoying the game in the
wake of the Travis Roy tragedy.  Let me answer from the perspective of both
a father (of a great eleven year old) and an assistant coach.
 
We had a game the day after the accident, and the head coach requested that
all the boys send their prayers (whatever religion they were) for Travis.  The
head coach's oldest son played with Travis on the Northern New England team
during Hockey Night in Boston, during which Travis sometimes slept over their
house.  So the accident hit close to home.
 
I addressed the issue of the kids' own fears.  I pointed out that the car
ride they'd made to the rink was much more dangerous than anything that could
happen to them on the ice.  And none of them were likely to stop riding cars.
If they were going to play hockey, they needed to play aggressively and
realize that tragedies are extremely rare, and are part of, and much more
common in, the rest of their lives.  There was no timidness in that game, and
the game the next day (on Sunday) was probably our most aggressive, and
intense game of the year, a game that was played after all the boys on the
team signed a card for Travis.
 
Private conversations with son have corroborated my feelings that kids
recognize that unless you're going to be a hermit and withdraw from life,
there are risks out there and that playing hockey is NOT a foolhardy risk.
 
It's still a great game, and compared to riding an automobile it's a paragon of
safety.
 
All of which doesn't make the situation any less emotional.  I'm only now able
to complete conversations about Travis without breaking down.  We can only
hope for as full a recovery as possible and no future repeats of these types
of accidents.
 
"I still made it"    #$%^&*()_)(*&!!
 
DaveH
 
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