League News

Bear: Where were you born?

Bill: Salt Lake City, UT, but grew up in Buxton, Maine.

Bear: Where do you live now?

Bill: York, ME

Bear: Team and position?

Bill: White, Wing

Bear: How long have you been playing in the league?

Bill: Three years. I think I started the second season White was in the league. We were a rag tag group coming together that weren’t very good. Not much has changed.

Bear: Why play hockey? Why not play some other sport, or no sport at all?

Bill: I actually really love soccer as well but there is something special about hockey. You know, the moment you step in the rink and the smell of the ice. I love the speed, the fluidness of the game, and how it's not over until that final buzzer.

Bear: What is the best thing or event that has happened to you while playing?

Bill: I moved to NY when I was 20 and played a lot of hockey there. Moving back from NY to ME in 08 I didn't play again for six or seven years, and my equipment bag sat in my basement. Some friends of mine started organizing games up at USM in Gorham so I started picking it back up. My dad (pictured below with Bill and his three brothers) started coming and watching and one day asked if he could try playing. He had never skated in a rink or wore pads before. He was so excited, and from then on we played every week together.

Bear: What is the worst thing or event that has happened to you while playing?

Bill: When I was in NY I had a really old 1980 style helmet. I was playing in a pickup game and my Defenseman was getting frustrated and took a hard slapshot from around the dot just to clear the puck but caught me behind the ear and dropped me. There was a lot of blood and head ringing.

Bear: If you were lacing up your skates one day and the Hockey Genie appeared to give you 3 hockey-related wishes, what would they be?

Bill: That I stay healthy, keep all of my teeth, and absorb all the superpowers of Briggs from the Red Team.

Bear: Do you ever dream about playing hockey?

Bill: I do. Turns out I’m a lot better in my subconscious.

Bear: Do you learn anything from watching televised hockey?

Bill: How slow I really am, and the discipline to keep short shifts. Cole is always telling us to dump and chase. Seeing that in game reinforces a lot of what he tells us to do.

Bear: Where do you work?

Bill: Seapoint Digital in Kittery.

Bear: What do you do there? What kind of company is it?

Bill:We are a digital marketing agency. I'm the owner so most of my day is spent on business development and working with my team on their projects. We are a team of eight in our Kittery office that works really well together. We do a combination of technical marketing and creative services like Google Ads and utilizing HubSpot. It was great when Paxton was our goalie. He works for HubSpot and always gave me great insights in the locker room.

Bear: Do you get tweaky at all about your gear? Any pregame (mental or otherwise) ritual?

Bill: Not really. I have a weakness for always wanting to buy new gear. It’s that illusion that you will finally play better with that one piece of gear. My wife tends to keep tabs on my trips to Pure Hockey.

Bear: How long do you estimate you will play hockey?

Bill: Seeing my dad play into his 60s gives me the encouragement to keep going.

Bear: Anything starting to go yet?

Bill: My lungs and legs. I took the summer off because of some responsibilities with older ones and COVID exposure. I was playing twice a week before and I can feel how quickly I get out of shape now and I feel like I’m skating in slow motion.

Bear: Do you think you would ever get surgery to fix some bodily part just to keep playing hockey longer?

Bill: Absolutely.


Bear: If hockey were a vegetable, what vegetable would it be?  Explain your answer.

Bill: I have nothing on this- Broccoli. It just is.

Bear: If you could magically attain one skill from a specific NHL player, who is that player and what is the skill?

Bill: Ovechkin's ability to make a shot.

Bear: When did you start skating on ice?  When did you start playing hockey?

Bill: I started around age 10. I’m the oldest of 7 kids and my father found Goodwill skates for all of us that had no ankle support so we would duct tape over them. We would play pond hockey as a family and with local friends every weekend on these large flats in Buxton that would flood and freeze over.

I never actually skated on rink ice or with pads until I was in my 20s. I spent my young adult years as a member of a Religious Order (with the vows of obedience and poverty) in the Hudson Valley area of New York. Turns out there were a lot of hockey players in our community and we would play pond hockey every day at lunch during the winter. There were two other complexes that we were connected with in NY so eventually we started renting the rink in Westchester every Saturday night at 11:00 and played as a group with other local friends.

It was great hockey, so I guess Jesus saves. On a side note I was always amused for a religious hockey group the guys that came from Jersey were all Devils fans.

Bear: If you could change one thing about the coed league, what would it be?

Bill: I feel like there is some inconsistency at times with rules and refs, especially during COVID. I know White probably has a penalty reputation, but the scrum that broke out with Black probably could have been avoided and the subsequent handing out of suspensions wasn't in line with USA Hockey or the league rules. But I understand it's some judgment calls.


Bear: Name a second thing.

Bill: More fans in the stands. It's riveting hockey. Actually, it was funny, my folks were over for dinner before one of the games pre-Covid, and I was hoping they would come and watch my game. I was a 44 year old man skating around dejected his parents didn't make his game. I might be working out some issues.

Bear: During games, do you like to talk to players from the opposing team? Do you have any particular psychological tactic in doing so?

Bill: I do. I tend to always talk to the players at faceoffs and smile. I think that goes a long way in the event you run into someone that they know you are good natured and it wasn't intentional. I know I'm not the most talented player, so I really try to grind out the puck on the boards or forecheck the D. That can get you a bad reputation if you don’t let them know you are just trying to play hard.

Bear: I know, it's a fast sport, we’re not all the way in control, and yet we all still want to win; it's an environment that cultivates the potential for misreading intention. Flareups can really start over something very small, and it's easy to misread intent. Guys fall down, their stick hits an opposing player, and the struck often start yelling for a penalty. I say, skate on and score a goal if you're mad.

Bill: I agree, and honestly we all have to get up and work on Tuesday.

Bear: When is the last time you washed your equipment?

Bill: Pads pre COVID. My uniform most weeks. I used to be more regular washing pads in the washing machine every month, but I've been keeping my pads at my office.

Bear: Any special procedure?

Bill: Vinegar has always been my friend.

Bear: You ever suit up at work? Jump out of closets, that sort of thing?

Bill: That's funny because I've been thinking about it. We have a large green screen wall in our photo/video studio that I use for random projects like photoshopping my employees into crime scenes. When you asked about having a photo for this profile I was going to throw on my Bruins throwback jersey and put myself in the Garden. 


Bear: Would you be in favor of the Arena piping in crowd noise during games?

Bill: Genius idea! Also why don't we have that healthy stream of AC/DC and stereotypical rink music during warmups???

Bear: I’d like to hear "Welcome to the Jungle" when I take the ice. Like, ear-splittingly, Arena-shakingly loud.

Bill: "You know where you are? You're in the jungle, baby. You're gonna diieee!!!!"

Bear: What's your go-to move in a shootout? 

Bill: The straight to the blocker and then avoid teammate eye contact on the way to the bench. Works every time. 


Bear: What do you wish it was?

Bill: Some sweet triple deke where you sweep it past the goalie.

Bear: Did you trade Donald or just kind of quietly let him go?

Bill: That's a funny story. We were having a rolling group of injuries over the last couple years that we were given subs for, but they stayed so long they were just part of the team. I sat the summer out for COVID so there was no place for me coming back. I honestly thought I would get traded, but they moved Donald.

I remember my first game back after not playing since March. Cole tried to hit me with three beautiful passes that I completely whiffed on. The look on his face... I can’t believe we lost Donald for this...

I do feel bad for White. Donald isn't just a great player, he's one of the most encouraging teammates to play with.


B]Bear:[/B] Ever wanted to play goalie?

Bill: No, that takes a special person.

Bear: By "special" do you really mean "slow?"

Bill: Your words, not mine.

Bear: How do you think playing hockey effects your life? Please use a story to illustrate your answer.

Bill: So I mentioned that I lived in a religious order most of my young adult life. I moved back to Maine when I was 32 and was a little lost. A couple months later I got tickets with a group to see USA vs Sweden in Portland. I have a lot of Swedish friends, so we all went in Swedish gear with signs made in Swedish. But I invited a lady I knew (who accidentally showed up in a yellow sweater and blue earrings to root with us) to join us because I had an extra ticket, and I ended up marrying her. I also remind her of this when she wonders why I play so much. She should have known.

I do often think about the thread of hockey and how it’s woven through my life.

Hockey has impacted my youth and my time with siblings, my faith, my connection to family. I've made so many impactful friendships through hockey. I went through a mental health issue a couple years back, and it was the hockey guys that were the quickest to reach out and check on me to make sure I was getting through it. It's a beautiful sport on and off the ice. 


Bear: Why didn't you play last summer?

Bill: I was worried about COVID. I was asked to coordinate a food distribution program through my religion for seniors and high risk households. Since I had the weekly responsibility of organizing the onloading the trucks and making delivery schedules I really limited my exposure over the summer. I probably would have thought about taking off the fall, but I was under the impression you could only take off one season and still keep your place.

Bear: Does Covid change the way you think about playing hockey now?

Bill: Well we are all pretty fashionable with our masks. I'm trying to take a balanced view. The virus is serious. I really appreciate the precautions the rink is taking. I know it’s a risk playing and as it gets worse as the fall progresses it might influence when I play.

Bear: Favorite hockey movie? Are there any good hockey movies?

Bill: The Love Guru? No, kidding... Miracle.

Bear: Favorite professional hockey player?

Bill: Back in the day Paul Kariya, but now Marchand.

Bear: Tastes great or less filling?

Bill: Tastes great! I had to stop drinking a couple years ago for health reasons. I discovered a great NA brewery from CT called Athletic that makes great beers. I started drinking them in the locker room and once Donald asked for one and didn’t realize it was fake beer until afterward. He felt cheated.