For Vince

The Renegades Hockey Team dedicated this recent playoff run to our team mate Vince.  Vince is the only other player besides me that has been on the team right from the very beginning.  We started out as the "Blues", an expansion team of players thrown together by the league from the free agent list.  It wasn't a very good team or a very good season as we lost all of our games that summer but the last one.  Moving forward, I wanted to keep playing, but it wasn't going to happen unless someone took over running the team.... so I did... and I've been running the team every since.  Most of the guys from that expansion team bailed out but a few joined the new Renegades team at that point, and we moved forward.  I can't remember exactly when that was, but it has to be 15 or 16 years ago now.  We have played every season since, both summer and winter.  Vince was one of the guys on that expansion team and has been there year after year, ever since.  There are 30 games in the winter season, and 18 in the summer, plus playoff games.  I'll bet I've played hockey with Vince at least 500 times over all these years.  There have been many other players come and go since then.  Some of the guys currently on the team have been with the Renegades for quite a while, but none longer than Vince and me.

Vince was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and has not been able to play since late in this past regular season.  He has since undergone some chemo therapy and radiation treatment.  The team dedicated our playoff run to him, and we were thrilled to be able to win the championship in his honor.  Last night a bunch of the guys from the team took him out to Boston Pizza.  We gave him one of the championship hats, and showed him the trophies.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Vince is doing and it was great to see him again.  I'm optimistic that he can make a full recovery and maybe one day, play with the team again.

In the mean time the team will push on into the 2019 summer season.  The league captains meeting was earlier this week.  The regular season starts next Wednesday.