No hockey club this year
The nine seasons of Saint Paul Hockey Club have been the joy of my hockey life. Getting out in the cold fresh air with my son Ben and daughter Isabel and all the kids who’ve played over the years has made us look forward to the coldest days of winter and appreciate the inevitable thaw that means the end-of-season party is near.
We’ve welcomed kids from age five through twelve to learn to love Minnesota’s game with us. There’s been one kid who played from the time she was five through twelve, Isabel Bogie. A couple months after the end of the 2018 season and her 13th birthday, we discovered she had osteosarcoma and she continues to battle that deadly bone cancer a year and a half later.
Isabel at hockey club from age five to twelve
We spent the rest of 2018 fighting that cancer and her surgery and chemotherapy treatments were wrapping up around the time our hockey season started. I recruited a couple friends to cover times when I’d be home or in the hospital with her and we were able to get another great season in.
One of those friends, Coach Erik, suffered a massive heart attack and died this summer. You all might remember him from helping out with us last season, teaching Saturday morning skating lessons in the hour before us on Saturdays for years, or being the guy in the Russian bomber hat putting on the Winter Classic high school girls event at North Dale every year.
Also this August, we discovered that Isabel’s cancer had returned on her lungs. She’s again in a surgery/chemotherapy treatment routine and we don’t know what the future holds.
Because of this, I need to postpone the tenth season of hockey club. I wanted to announce in time for kids to sign up for other programs that start soon. Please look into Langford Park, Edgcumbe, Johnson-Como-NSP, or Roseville. I believe all Ramsey County hockey programs offer the first year free thanks to the generosity and hard work of the Friends of Saint Paul Hockey organization.
Isabel and I hope to see you at the rink in the future. She started skating when she was one and a half, and skating and rollerblading have always been her favorite exercise.
Coach Terry