John and Susan Day found the spirit of Thanksgiving through hockey
By Marty Gitlin
Nov. 22, 2006
Special to usahockey.com
Thanksgiving is a family occasion. On this warm and fuzzy holiday, the family of John and Susan Day will number around 800.
Not literally, of course.
The story began several years ago when they traveled with their California Cougars A and B hockey teams from the Bay Area to Southern
California to compete in the Anaheim Ice and Glacial Gardens tournaments around Thanksgiving.
They enjoyed the event, but it didn't feel right to skip the most relished home-cooked family meal of the year. Yeah, the hotel
served a Thanksgiving dinner, but it lacked the love, not to mention the taste, of a bird and all the fixings in the old dining room.
Still, they enjoyed the tournaments and yearned to continue competing in them. The couple heard about a few "suite" hotels that
featured full kitchens. They asked family members of the teams if they would embrace the task of making Thanksgiving dinner there.
"If we all pitched in, we could make it work," Susan said recently. "Our team enthusiastically bought into the idea. There
were two other teams in our organization, and for ease, they decided to come to the same tournament and stay in the same hotel."
When some parents with kids on other teams heard what the Cougars were doing, they wondered if they could join in the fun.
Day's response?
"Of course! The more the merrier!" she said. "To a person, everyone said this was probably one of the best Thanksgivings
they had ever had. The food was homemade, great, and the company was fantastic. But my favorite part was getting to know
people from our other teams. It was a beautiful thing."
The seeds were planted. It was to become a more beautiful thing every year. Anaheim Ice Tournament Director Art Trottier
and Glacial Gardens counterpart Laura Ellis appreciated the idea so much they scheduled the California Cougars' first games around the
dinner.
Since that initial experience, the Days have excitedly invited any and all participating teams to the Thanksgiving dinners. What
was once a bummer of a holiday has been transformed into a feast. The timing has been perfected to the point where the courtyard
is empty 15 minutes before dinnertime, and, 15 minutes later, everyone is seated and the entire meal is being served.
"Our philosophy is that you can be fierce competitors on the ice, but off the ice, we're all just a bunch of parents whose kids are
playing something they love," Susan said. "And because of this, we've found that it made the actual games much more sporting.
There wasn't the animosity and hostility that can sometimes rise in these games."
The Cougars have hosted competitors from the Ventura Mariners, Phoenix Junior Coyotes and Fresno Falcons, among others. The
Cougars and Fresno Squirts have developed such a bond that they now go out for pizza after games. Ellis put the Days in touch
with a Bantam AA team in Alaska, which has accepted their Thanksgiving invitation for this year's event.
Now the events are no longer for hockey parents and players. Brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are
requesting presence at what has become a massive Thanksgiving feast. About 800 people are expected at this year's dinner.
"Now grandma and grandpa change what they're doing, and even local [Southern California] relatives come to us instead of having
Thanksgiving at home," John said. "It's a lot of fun. You know, you hear a lot of bad things about youth sports, but nothing
good about people coming together. We have made so many friends over the last seven years."
The Days hope this example will be followed by USA Hockey Thanksgiving tournament participants in other areas of the country.
They know they've hit upon something special.
"If we can inspire other teams around the country to try something like this on their own, then it might make the whole hockey
community just a little bit better," Susan said. "I know that people have lamented spending what has been a family holiday on
the road at a hotel. But wasn't the original Thanksgiving a community celebration?"
Indeed it was. And when you're eating mashed potatoes prepared by a stranger, you're far less likely to complain that they're lumpy.
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. |
