Biggest Upsets Ever in MN High School Hockey
Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:37 pm
Burnsville over AHA certainly joins the argument, congrats to Burnsville.
Unfortunately for me, the column I wrote for Minnesota Score magazine's "Tournaments Issue" will no longer run.
I thought I'd post it here anyway:
"I'm fifteen for a moment...
Caught in between ten and twenty
And I'm just dreaming..."
I was thinking about those lyrics from Five For Fighting's song "100 Years" recently-- thinking back on my teenage years. State tournament time always does that to me. I think back on how my dreams back then really only involved two things: girls and sports. That's how it should be when you're in high school. The older you get, life only gets more complicated. You find yourself longing for the days when your only real responsibilities were homework and showing up for practice on time.
But this year my reminiscing has been different and I was thinking of those lyrics for all the wrong reasons. I couldn't help but think about Mark DeLude, a sophomore defenseman for hockey power Holy Angels. How his high school dreams of sports glory and girls have taken on a weight no teenager should ever have to deal with. Mark's dad, Minneapolis Fire Fighter Barry DeLude, died on February 13 of flu complications. He didn't get his 100 years to live, few of us will, but 44 years is just too few. I didn't know Barry, but he was two years ahead of me at Southwest High School and a fellow hockey player. We did know a lot of the same people and we grew up in the same neighborhood. By all accounts he was a wonderful husband, father, family member, co-worker and friend. He married his high school sweetheart, Linda and they bought a home in the same neighborhood they both grew up in.
In high school hockey circles you hear a lot of talk about Holy Angles and the dreaded "R" word. It's an argument that will never end, private schools recruit, that's how they get a student body. It's the reasons used to recruit that people tend to argue about. But what you don't hear about enough is how much some parents sacrifice to send their children to private schools. You may wonder how a fire fighter could afford to send two children (Mark has an older brother, Jake) to Holy Angels.
Mike Adams, one of DeLude's "brothers" at Station 17 in Minneapolis said, "If Barry wasn't here at the station, he was either at hockey or out "pounding nails"-- what we call working construction jobs on the side. He sacrificed all his time for his family-- to be able to not only afford a private school, but to pay for the all the hockey expenses that don't come cheap. We used to kid him after each shift and say, "there's another hockey stick paid for". We used to joke at the station, reading the Holy Angels' box score the next day, if Mark had scored, he was "Barry's kid" if he had screwed up with a penalty or something, he was "Linda's kid"."
It's what you'd expect to hear about a fire fighter, about someone who spent his life sacrificing for others.
"Barry lived his whole life that way," Adams said, "here at the station, when that alarm sounds, you slide down that pole, it's as simple as that. People need your help."
Now the Holy Angels team certainly doesn't need anybody's help when it comes to winning hockey games. The Stars are blessed with speed and skill up and down the roster and are most people's pick to take home the big prize on March 10th. It's out of the ordinary to root for the favorite-- usually everybody wants to see David beat Goliath. But it's also out of the ordinary for a 15 year old boy to suddenly be without his father. It's out of the ordinary for a perfectly healthy 44-year old man to die a week after coming down with the flu. So you'll forgive me if I pull for Holy Angels this year. A lot of fire fighters, a lot of people from the Southwest area of Minneapolis and a lot of people whose lives were touched by a hard working, good man will be too. And most importantly, for Mark, his mother and his big brother will be in the stands, in the Holy Angels section, screaming like mad for him. And smiling down on him from wherever good people go when they pass on, will be his own personal holy angel.
After a Holy Angels win in the sectional playoffs in late February, Linda went to the firehouse to clean out Barry's locker. Inside she found, taped to the door and sides, several pictures of both her sons, in their pee-wee and squirt uniforms. A visual reminder of why Barry did what he did every day of his life.
A locker room is a lot like a fire house. All those inside it are usually like brothers. The things that make a good fire fighter are the same things that make a good teammate-- and I'll guarantee you that Mark DeLude is a good teammate. It's those characteristics-- hard work, dedication, unselfishness-- that make good people in any walk of life.
Linda, Jake and Mark DeLude lost a husband and a father, but he'll live on in their hearts and memories. And we'd all be better people-- this world would be a better place, if we applied the sentiment from the fire house:
"When that alarm sounds, you slide down that pole, it's as simple as that."
Unfortunately for me, the column I wrote for Minnesota Score magazine's "Tournaments Issue" will no longer run.
I thought I'd post it here anyway:
"I'm fifteen for a moment...
Caught in between ten and twenty
And I'm just dreaming..."
I was thinking about those lyrics from Five For Fighting's song "100 Years" recently-- thinking back on my teenage years. State tournament time always does that to me. I think back on how my dreams back then really only involved two things: girls and sports. That's how it should be when you're in high school. The older you get, life only gets more complicated. You find yourself longing for the days when your only real responsibilities were homework and showing up for practice on time.
But this year my reminiscing has been different and I was thinking of those lyrics for all the wrong reasons. I couldn't help but think about Mark DeLude, a sophomore defenseman for hockey power Holy Angels. How his high school dreams of sports glory and girls have taken on a weight no teenager should ever have to deal with. Mark's dad, Minneapolis Fire Fighter Barry DeLude, died on February 13 of flu complications. He didn't get his 100 years to live, few of us will, but 44 years is just too few. I didn't know Barry, but he was two years ahead of me at Southwest High School and a fellow hockey player. We did know a lot of the same people and we grew up in the same neighborhood. By all accounts he was a wonderful husband, father, family member, co-worker and friend. He married his high school sweetheart, Linda and they bought a home in the same neighborhood they both grew up in.
In high school hockey circles you hear a lot of talk about Holy Angles and the dreaded "R" word. It's an argument that will never end, private schools recruit, that's how they get a student body. It's the reasons used to recruit that people tend to argue about. But what you don't hear about enough is how much some parents sacrifice to send their children to private schools. You may wonder how a fire fighter could afford to send two children (Mark has an older brother, Jake) to Holy Angels.
Mike Adams, one of DeLude's "brothers" at Station 17 in Minneapolis said, "If Barry wasn't here at the station, he was either at hockey or out "pounding nails"-- what we call working construction jobs on the side. He sacrificed all his time for his family-- to be able to not only afford a private school, but to pay for the all the hockey expenses that don't come cheap. We used to kid him after each shift and say, "there's another hockey stick paid for". We used to joke at the station, reading the Holy Angels' box score the next day, if Mark had scored, he was "Barry's kid" if he had screwed up with a penalty or something, he was "Linda's kid"."
It's what you'd expect to hear about a fire fighter, about someone who spent his life sacrificing for others.
"Barry lived his whole life that way," Adams said, "here at the station, when that alarm sounds, you slide down that pole, it's as simple as that. People need your help."
Now the Holy Angels team certainly doesn't need anybody's help when it comes to winning hockey games. The Stars are blessed with speed and skill up and down the roster and are most people's pick to take home the big prize on March 10th. It's out of the ordinary to root for the favorite-- usually everybody wants to see David beat Goliath. But it's also out of the ordinary for a 15 year old boy to suddenly be without his father. It's out of the ordinary for a perfectly healthy 44-year old man to die a week after coming down with the flu. So you'll forgive me if I pull for Holy Angels this year. A lot of fire fighters, a lot of people from the Southwest area of Minneapolis and a lot of people whose lives were touched by a hard working, good man will be too. And most importantly, for Mark, his mother and his big brother will be in the stands, in the Holy Angels section, screaming like mad for him. And smiling down on him from wherever good people go when they pass on, will be his own personal holy angel.
After a Holy Angels win in the sectional playoffs in late February, Linda went to the firehouse to clean out Barry's locker. Inside she found, taped to the door and sides, several pictures of both her sons, in their pee-wee and squirt uniforms. A visual reminder of why Barry did what he did every day of his life.
A locker room is a lot like a fire house. All those inside it are usually like brothers. The things that make a good fire fighter are the same things that make a good teammate-- and I'll guarantee you that Mark DeLude is a good teammate. It's those characteristics-- hard work, dedication, unselfishness-- that make good people in any walk of life.
Linda, Jake and Mark DeLude lost a husband and a father, but he'll live on in their hearts and memories. And we'd all be better people-- this world would be a better place, if we applied the sentiment from the fire house:
"When that alarm sounds, you slide down that pole, it's as simple as that."
