High sticking - from Lindy

One of the passions of Ben’s teenage years was roller hockey. I think through watching the movie “The Mighty Ducks” he caught the “roller/ice hockey bug.” People who get the bug really get the bug!

We managed to find an equally fanatical group of teenagers/adults in Tucumán and so began a love for the sport. When we returned to Melbourne every few years Ben would join a club and play. He always spoke of wanting to play ice hockey. Just before he was diagnosed with cancer I found him a pair of ice hockey gloves. When Chris was in Europe Ben asked him to buy him ice hockey skates - again, just before the cancer kicked in.

While Tim, Andy and Pete all played in Tucumán along with Ben, it became too difficult to get to training and games far off in Melbourne, so the sport went quiet in the Mulherin household.

But…  last August Matt started playing. He quickly got the skating skills he needed under his belt and the game skills quickly followed. He and Pete are both keen (and good).

Chapter Two started when Matt found a very good pair of hockey ice skates while rummaging around in a Salvos store. How could I refuse when there just happened to be a summer course of ten weeks of ice hockey scrimmages and development classes that were suited for his age group? Matt is now playing ice-hockey for a club in the peewee level with some amazing young players, and Ice House and/or Oakleigh are part of our weekly experience.

This is another way that we carry Ben with us in 2010.  Matt is very happy to be carrying on something that Ben loved and did well. He often talks about him and together we smile as we imagine what Ben would say about his little brother ‘gunning it’ on the ice. We smile at how it would have made him start ice-hockey himself; he wouldn’t have been able to resist. These things help.