Catching up with a Grizzled Dan Montgomery

[BarzalGoat 728]

On a cool fall day my plane touches down in the eastern Long Island/New York airport of Islip, the first stop in my out of the way journey to interview former player and manager Dan Montgomery. This is a story I've been chasing since the one time phenom forward turned All-VHL Valiq award winning defenseman decided to hang up the skates after a career spent overseas in Helsinki. As I board the railroad east again bound for East Hampton, I can't help but wonder had the dominos fallen even slightly differently would I be in my summer home out west still instead of chasing after a story from a reclusive has-been, who has largely been an after thought to a league brimming with so much star talent. Past the vineyards that make this area of Long Island so wealthy and inaccessible I can't help but wonder if this was the future Dan Montgomery wanted when he was handed a "C" and the keys to Yukon after signing there as a free agent; after going in the first round of the VHL draft to a rebuilding Helsinki; after changing from Forward to Defense mid-career just to find playing time; and after hoisting his first Continental Cup proudly for everyone to see.

 

Pulling into the station I see a doorless and windowless Jeep Wrangler pull up with a hauntingly familiar face that I hadn't seen in quite some time. Dan has grown out his beard to a constant scraggly face, as he pulls his designer sunglasses up to his forehead I see those unmistakable green eyes burning with the familiar intensity of a champion. When he said next we'd go down to a local brewery I foolishly thought he meant coffee, but before I knew it we were at the best table in the bar with a couple of frosted glasses and a few warm greetings. Monty makes his rounds with the locals while I watch in amazement, the local kid who made it big and came right back to where he fell in love with the game. Turns out that he now helps out with the youth program out here in eastern Long Island, helping young kids in his area fall in love with the game the same way he did. He explains that while hockey isn't the most popular sport around here, there's a special relationship between the people here and the game, and he says he needs to show me.

 

He takes me back into the Jeep and we head back out west towards where he grew up, he says it's a surprise and it has to be worth it. We pull in to a largely empty parking lot where some of the local kids were playing ball hockey on rollerblades. They all seem to recognize the royalty I walked in with, but none ask for an autograph -- they probably have one already. Of course the parking lot is used for the Montgomery Player Development Ice Center, an ice rank smack in the middle of Eastern Long Island. Dan points to a pond which used to freeze over every winter, and explains that this is where he fell in love with the game, and where he hopes the next generation of Long Island hockey will too. We walk inside of the empty building and he turns on the lights, right there next to his continental cup ring is the Alexander Valiq trophy he won in season 65, as beautiful as ever. Dan talks about how lucky he is to have won this award, and explains that he wasn't even on the top line when he won it, funny enough. It's just a motivation that anything is possible for anyone, even a kid from Long Island, if you put your head down and get the work in.
 

[jRuutu 2,483]

10/10

 

Great article! I liked the flow of the story. The background information about Dan was a cool read. The atmosphere and surroundings are described well, almost like the reader were right there. The article is also easy to read. I have no real complaints about anything. A picture could add an extra element to it, but overall great work!

[SpicyGecko 100]

I really enjoyed this article. Out of all the theme week articles I keep coming back to this one. The story is great and it keeps my attention start to finish. Good formatting, great descriptions in your second paragraph. It’s really easy to picture what you are trying to say and imagine jeep and the ice center. Overall very good article.

 

8.5/10