Local Heroes Earn Grant for Long Island Blues Special Hockey Team

Just seeing the faces of the Long Island Blues light up was more than enough payoff for all the volunteer work Rob and Susan O'Hare had put into the special hockey team.
So when the couple found out that their front line work during the COVID-19 pandemic had earned the team a $500 grant from the American Special Hockey Association and $2500 worth of new equipment from Bauer - they were humbled and elated.

"It's been really good to hear some good news for a change," Susan O'Hare said. "Anything that can help out the Blues, that's been near and dear to my husband and I's heart for so many years now… Anything that can help out that organization is always a blessing to us."
Rob is an Assistant Coach for the Blues while Susan serves as Team Manager. Rob helps run practices with Head Coach Skip Theiss and encourages the team on the bench during games, while Susan coordinates travel schedules, registers for tournaments and even designed team apparel. Susan also volunteers with the ASHA as the Newsletter Editor and Events Coordinator. They do all of that on top of being hockey parents, as their 16-year-old son Robert plays for the team.
It's a lot of extra work, but they do it all out of love for the Blues.
"Just seeing their faces every other week," Rob said. "Seeing what they can accomplish out on the ice and the friendships they form, not only amongst their team, but other teams… Just seeing what they can accomplish out there is quite remarkable."

That's just their work in hockey. Rob may be known as "coach" at the rink, but at work he's known as Deputy Inspector Robert O'Hare, a 25-year veteran of the NYPD. He's been working on the front lines during the pandemic, leading his command the 6th Precinct in Manhattan.
Susan is also working on the front lines as an ICU Nurse. She had previously retired to care for her kids and elderly parents, but couldn't sit idly by during a health care crisis and answered the call for skilled ICU nurses. She updated her certifications and is currently working overnight shifts four nights a week at a Brooklyn hospital.
"It's not in my nature to just sit at home and not do anything," Susan said. "I wanted to do something and being that I had the skillset, I wanted to apply it to where it could be helpful."
The ASHA felt that was an extraordinary thing to do, but Susan just felt it was the right thing to do.
"I didn't look at what I was doing as such a big deal because there are some many people doing so much more," she said.
That sense of community service is prevalent on the Blues, as three of the team's coaches are NYPD officers, while two more are firefighters.
"Rob and Susan and the Long Island Blues are not just heroes, they are champions," Jen O'Brien, Executive Director of ASHA, said. "They have responded to every need, and their support has achieved goals on and off the ice."
Rob and Susan never expected accolades for what they do, they've just volunteered their time and energy because that's how they're wired. Neither of them directly applied for the ASHA grant for front line workers, as Susan nominated her husband without his knowledge, while Blues Head Coach Skip Theiss nominated Susan.
"I'm extremely humbled. I'm out on the forefront doing what I do, but I never have, nor will I ever look for credit," Rob said. "I'm doing what I love professionally and I'm doing something that I'm loving now. I get a great return for seeing how these kids are, these adults too, and interacting with them. The payoff is right on the ice."

Rob and Susan are happy to see the money and equipment go to a great cause. The money will help pay for ice time, which every hockey parent knows is expensive.
"It's fantastic. We have kids with not only different playing abilities, but financial backgrounds and we don't like saying no to anybody," Rob said. "We want them out there, we want them to part of the team, part of something special."
The equipment donation will also help those who are less fortunate get involved in the game. The Blues don't turn down anyone who wants to play.
"There are so many people that come in and they show up and they don't have anything," Susan said. "We don't exclude anybody, any disability. They don't have anything and if we have equipment that we can give to somebody, they walk away and they are fully stocked, it means the world to them."
Rob and Susan continue to work on the front lines and would be doing so regardless of whether or not they received the ASHA grant. In the end, they're just grateful that their work is helping a cause close to their hearts. The bigger winner here is the Blues, and the O'Hares wouldn't have it any other way.