Over 30 Hockey League

Week #8 - Special Award

Bob Snyder 

The Dunkin Donuts Player of the Week award winner is Bob Snyder of Last Call

Bob didn't score a goal or hat trick like another defenseman... Bob played his typical under the radar style of defense.

So why is he the Dunkin Donuts Player of the Week Winner?

Bob did what JFK told him to do... "ask not what the Over-30 League can do for you, ask what you can do for the Over-30 League." 

Bob played a major role in personally getting Bob Halloran from WCVB (Channel 5) to come up to hockeytown this past Thursday and spent over an hour talking to the Over-30 board members and a few key players that were invited up.

We have been trying to get media coverage for the Over-30 League without success and Bobby delivered the goods.  

There are a couple more things we are exploring with Bob.., but having Bob Halloran spend an hour with us for a 1-minute segment on a major news network is another "WOW" factor!

The winner of the weekly Mortimer and Randolph Gaffe of the week award is our own League Director himself Bill Abcunas.

During the filming of the Bob O’Halloran WCVB(Channel5) segment…players were taking turns doing breakaways on Scotty Rosato. During one of the attempts.. Billy tried to a move on Scotty.. only to find himself face down in the bottom of a faceoff circle.

Bill almost turned a “Sports” news piece into and “9-1-1” piece.., Billy will argue that he made the goal on Scotty.., but just like saying Punxsutawney Phil can see his shadow.., no one saw the goal (except for him).

REVERE - Each Sunday inside the Greater Boston Indoor Sports Arena, the cacophony 'of squealing sneakers and clashing hockey sticks signals a transformation. Grown men in their 30s and 40s, ordinary guys with families and workaday jobs, are suddenly kids again.

The eight-team league has a draft, jerseys, a website (www.over30hockey league.com), and a newsletter. But most important, it provides an emotional connection to the past. "It rekindles what we went through as kids," said Bill Abcunas of Saugus, who founded the league in 1992 and is both its patron saint and guiding force. "Growing up, this is what we did. It was neighborhood against neighborhood, except here the neighborhoods are Billerica, Nashua, N.H., Tewksbury, Saugus, Lynn. They're all over the place."

Abcunas, 47, began playing street hockey at the age of 9, inspired by the exploits of Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins. Like many of the players in the Over-30 league, he played the game on the competitive circuit throughout the 1980s, traveling across North America to play in tournaments.

"In the dek hockey world everybody knows Bill," said Scott Young of Topsfield, who has been playing in the Over-30 league for eight years. "Bill was one of the best players, if not the best player, in his day. When you see somebody at that level, that cares that much about the game, trying to start a league to give back more, you want to stick with someone like that. I know the league wouldn't be what it is without him."

The Over-30 League is not just some Sunday morning recreational league. It is for serious players. The invitation-only league, which despite its name does make exceptions for players under 30, has two 17-week sessions, stretching from September to May. Players must pay $230 per session. The website features individual players statistics and has career statistics dating back to the league's inception, courtesy of player-statistician Gary Goodwin of Saugus, who reviewed game sheets dating to 1992.

The league also has sponsors to help offset the cost, which Abcunas estimates at $30,000. Teams are asked to recruit sponsors, whose names appear on the back of the jerseys. For the first time, all eight teams have sponsors this season, including Brother's Deli and the North Shore Spirit.

It is that level of organization that keeps players coming back. Abcunas said 100 players are in the league this season.

"Since I have a business and kids, I don't have the time to play like I used to," said Young, 34, who runs Pro Pizza Grille in Rowley. "I used to play two or three times a week. Since I'm only playing once a week, I don't want to play in a half-hearted league. This league is worth the fight with my wife every Sunday morning."

However, as serious as the league is, Abcunas and others said the best part is the camaraderie, the carefree joking that erases the pressures of life. "For that one hour or two hours at the rink, all of your problems go away," said Rick Van Campen of Danvers, a computer programmer who has been playing in the league for five years and maintains its website. "You step away from reality for a bit."

The guys who play in this league are part of a dying breed dedicated street hockey players. Dan Broderick of Everett, one of the league's senior players at 48 and a member of the board of directors, has played in tournaments in Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Canada. He has played in games against NHL players such as Patrick Roy and Guy Carbonneau. Broderick said at the last tournament he played in Switzerland, most of the international teams didn't have anyone over 25.

Abcunas said that the growth of roller hockey has eroded the base for the on-foot version of the sport in the United States. While the men admit they're playing a youth game, they're also quick to point out how demanding street hockey is.

Abcunas said, "There is roller hockey, ice hockey, and this hockey. This gets on the lower echelon because people say anyone can play street hockey, but what they don't realize is the amount of running and the amount of room you have to cover. In roller hockey there is a lot of gliding. Here, I've had guys tell me how bad their ankles and knees are with all of the pounding you take."

So why do they keep playing? Simply for the love of the game. Abcunas said the game becomes part of you. That's why after a nearly four-year layoff he returned to action last Sunday. A Type 1 diabetic, Abcunas nearly went into a coma five years ago before being diagnosed with the disease. Diabetes forced him to eventually give up playing and focus strictly on running the league, but this year he decided to return. He is hoping to make it through the season, but if his health prevents that he said he'll be content to just oversee the league as director of operations.

"I get just as much satisfaction out of running this league as I do getting to play," said Abcunas. "The league is not about me. It's about them."

And as long as street hockey players keep showing up each Sunday morning to recapture the spirit of their youth, Abcunas will keep the league running. He said every year there are guys who threaten to quit because of a bum ankle, a bad knee, or a new addition to their family, but for the most part they keep coming back.

"It's a kid's game," said 42-year-old Rick Lavoie of Billerica, sweat pooling on his brow after a game last Sunday. "But I just love to play. When I can't move my legs anymore, I'll stop playing."