Recollections of the All Day Power Play 2009

“I hope you had the time of your life.” those words echo in my head on repeat as I sit here and the moments that made up the 2009 All Day Power Play replay in my mind like some image show flashing across a screen.

The ribs, shoulders, thighs, wrists, and arms still sore from the events of this weekend. But with time those pains will pass and I’ll be left with the great memories of this year’s event.

I didn’t sleep much the Friday night before; my mind was racing and already looking to Saturday and what I had ahead of me. Saturday morning rolled around to a flurry of activity. Checking the hockey bag, making sure everything was in place, then throwing a pillow in on top of all the equipment. A pillow? In a hockey bag? That’s how you know you are not in for a normal day at the rink.

Before even walking into the rink, I was greeted with many friendly faces, some that I had not seen since last year’s event. It was nice to see so many people return for a second chance on the merry go round. Lots of new faces have also joined our ranks, all are welcome additions. Before I knew it, I was fully dressed and ready to start skating. As I look around the locker room I’m flanked with family and friends. My Dad is sitting to my right, good friend Dave Walsh, Uncle Gary, Paul Sevigney, Jim Fallon, and two new participants join me, all excited and ready to jump at the chance to get going. All talking about last year’s event and joking about what we have ahead of us. Jim, Dave, and I know what is ahead. The others are embarking on the journey for the first time.

Saturday August 8th 2009 9am: Game time. All the players gather around for a photo op, Dave Villiotti, Director of the Nashua Children’s Home says a few nice words to everyone, we break up into two groups, one on each rink, break off into two teams on each rink after that, and the games are off and running. I’m surprised how much faster the pace of the game is over last year’s event. I’m skating on a line with Gary and Paul; we are flying, moving the puck and having a blast. At some point I realized that I was finally at a level where I could skate with these guys and not be slowing them down. That was a very cool moment, “I hope you had the time of your life.” rings in my ears again. Turn the page, hours have passed, goals are scored, players are tired, some have left, many still remain. It’s now 3am. We’ve moved the remaining players onto one rink, the games that had been slowing down as players trailed off have now turned into a sprint to the finish. By this point I’ve relegated myself to playing defense, happily so has my friend Dave, after a few shifts he concocts the concept of the “D-Train”, the accountant in him has realized the exact number of shifts we would have to skate if we stick to playing 5 minute shifts with 3 sets of defensemen. The exhausted hockey player in him has realized it is a way to keep pushing us to the end of the event. The other guys are all on board with the idea and for the remaining two hours it becomes a running joke among all of us, here comes the 7:25 D-Train, right on time, let’s go. At this point it’s the only thing keeping us moving.

It’s now 8am, Sunday morning. We are 23 hours into the event, exhausted, and looking forward to the relief the end of the event will bring. Sean Sullivan, as he did last year, bellows across the public address system, “Welcome to the final hour of the All Day Power Play, LETS MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!!” It’s enough to get everyone psyched up for that one last push to the end. The end is near, the clock ticks down, three shifts left, two shifts left, the 8:20am “D-Train” leaves the station with Dave and I on board. One last shift, one last push, we get off the ice and happily relinquish the final shift of the event to another group of defensemen. The job was done, the goal complete. With one last hand shake at center ice and a final on ice goodbye to our fellow participants, we skate to the rink exit.

“I hope you had the time of your life.” my emotions run high for a moment. We had done it! Dad is right behind me skating stride for stride to the door. I’m momentarily overwhelmed by the idea that we just shared a very cool Father/Son moment that only a few can ever say they have done or will do. It’s not something I will ever forget. The times I needed that push to keep going, I did it because I knew he was still going. We had done it, together. A deep breath of the chilled rink air brings me back into the moment and I make my way off the rink. “We did it, it’s over.”

Fathers and Sons, Friends and Family, Teammates and Strangers: We said our final goodbyes and made our way for the exits, many doing so with a “good job” or a “see you next year”. The images flash in slow motion in my mind:

Sunday August 9th 2009: 9:30am Mission Accomplished “I hope you had the time of your life.”