Jeff was patient, fun and loving. He knew little about skating, only recreationally. Jeff took it upon himself up watch hours of YouTube videos to train himself in hockey, a sport he never thought he'd conquer. He trained himself at parks, then taught the kids. He trained himself in the morning, then showed the kids in the afternoon how to do crossovers. Jeff trained himself at night and then trained the kids in the morning, how to do inside-outside edges. Our middle son loved it all and we put him in outdoor roller hockey in the middle of the pandemic, as children were only allowed to do outdoor sports.
The two girls, oldest and youngest, skated at home and at the park, but didn't do leagues, not yet at least. Eventually, the girls saw how much fun their brother was having and the little one caved first. With my husband by her side and his daily training, she busted into roller hockey as a true defender for her team. With his dedication and her willingness to listen, she is now a jack of all trades, and has 23 goals so far this season. Soon, ice rinks opened up and he knew, in order for our kids to improve, he needed level up and truly train them and himself, in ice hockey. That was the true test. This was much tougher. Ice required a lot of finesse and guts and boy, this dad committed. He did the same thing, watch endless training videos, took them to the rinks, and trained. He trained himself once more and then he trained our babies. All three were zooming around on the ice soon enough.
They picked their favorite teams, and (most) of the family are die-hard isles fans! The kids got to visit the new UBS Arena, and celebrated the 50th anniversary with their Isles! Eventually the oldest girl was convinced bitten by the hockey bug too. She loved that she and her sister were girls in a largely male sport. All three play hockey now and love every single second. The 12 year old and 10 year old even had not one, but two birthday parties at Northwell Health Ice Center, the Islanders' training facility.
They've also all had birthday parties at the local ice skating rinks as well. This is all due to their loving "hockey dad" who is now a two-time coach for my youngest daughter. He is a forever our dad, coach and he is our one true hockey dad.
Nominated by Ellen Hsi
Tony Caruso
My dad got my brother and I skating almost as soon as we were able to walk. He coached us for a brief time, and drove us to our practices. He's given his time to P.A.L and knew Gerry Hart when The Rinx was opened over 30 years ago.
Though I barely remember my first hockey game - an Islanders game - since I was so young, it's what he and I have bonded over the most all these years. We live in different states these days, but we've made it our thing to try to fly back to Long Island once a year to catch a few Isles games together.
The last time we caught a game at the Coliseum was 2015, which was emotional for us, but this past February we caught our first two games at UBS Arena, which was also pretty emotional, but also an incredible experience. Seeing the Isles finally have a new arena become a reality after all these years was unbelievable for us to see and we also met Butch Goring at our first game at UBS.
My relationship with my dad has a great deal to do with not just the great game of hockey, but the Islanders as well. Hopefully one day he and I will be able to celebrate the Isles winning a Cup together, so that instead of him telling me all the stories of the dynasty era, he and I will have our own story to share.
Nominated by Anthony Caruso
