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Amateur hockey team faces off against cancer

Phil Spinosa, not a goalie but suiting up as one so some kids can take shots on him (Mark Morton)
Phil Spinosa, not a goalie but suiting up as one so some kids can take shots on him (Mark Morton)Read more

Hockey is a battle.  Throwing on a few pounds of armor and willingly putting yourself in the paths of high velocity gentlemen is only a draw to a select few.

As years go by, for the amateurs, it can become a battle with children, spouses, jobs, errands, appointments, and the beckoning allure of a couch or bed that will be far more accommodating to a tired middle-aged body than a patch of ice.

But not for Phil Spinosa, who is finding out that there might not be a more accommodating place in the world than a hockey rink.

"'Amateur' is even a bit generous," says Spinosa. "I grew up playing street hockey, roller hockey. I never played organized hockey until a few years ago, because Ray started playing."

Ray Kerber has been Phil's best friend since kindergarten in Warminster, and joined him through middle school, high school, and a year of college. Two weddings and a couple kids later, they were both trying to stay active amid a schedule clogged with adult obligations.

"I was playing football or softball, and I just never had the time to play hockey. And then I had two kids, and then football and softball went by the wayside, because just the time of playing is the worst hours with kids, and hockey worked out because it was always later at night."

But amateur hockey and scheduling battles became the least of Phil's concerns months ago, when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Phil, however, had allied himself with a resource not every cancer patient is lucky enough to have: a pack of Squirrels.

Phil and Ray's hockey team, the Tinicum Squirrels, found themselves short a player after Phil's diagnosis.  But he went in for surgery to remove his testicle and to their delight, returned to the ice.

"We'd given him a shirt that had a '-1' on it, that was his number," teammate Mark Morton laughs. "And the Squirrels jerseys have the leaf with two acorns – well, his has one acorn on it."

Soon after, Phil's six-month blood work came back, revealing the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. One Wednesday night, the Squirrels left the ice, and had a sit-down team meeting.

"He'd thought he beat it, and instead he's back doing chemo," Morton recalls. "After seeing what the effect was on his family and whatnot, we started raising money just amongst ourselves, and realized another player that we play with, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and it just suddenly made us open our eyes and start looking around at how great the need was."

The team decided to do what they do every Wednesday – play some hockey. They pooled their resources and effort to form Face-off Against Cancer, an organization to raise money for local families for whom a cancer diagnosis has turned things upside down.

The center point of their efforts is a 12-team hockey tournament scheduled for September 7 at the Aston Ice Works, which will raise money to help out the Spinosas and other families who have applied for financial support. Food, drinks, a VIP area and live music will all be featured, and the team that raises the most money gets to face off against the Flyers Alumni team at the end of the day.

"That was pretty much the impetus – Phil – but he made us realize there's a lot more going on out there, outside of our little world," Morton says.

"What they're doing is unreal," admits Phil. "It's a great feeling. I couldn't ask for a better group of guys to play with. I feel great that something good could come out of this. I know throughout my whole chemo and everything, I was just the worst, I just felt like death at times. I just thought, hey, you know what, this is over soon, and all these guys I have around me, between them, my family, friends, just the support alone helped me a ton when I was feeling so bad. That really helped ease the pain."

A variety of fundraisers are paving the way to the event itself. Last week, the group held a happy hour at the Fireside Bar and Grille in Ambler, as well as a family skate. Teammates Greg Lombardi and Chris Shemp are big parts of the fundraising team, and pizza places lie Nat's Pizza in Doylestown and Giovanni's Pizza in Jamison send flyers for the event out with every order. A Dairy Queen in Aston is letting them use their sign to advertise the tournament, and a florist volunteered to donate centerpieces. Even the Flyers charities are behind some of the donations.

"It's heartwarming," Morton says. "There's a ton of people. I'm slighting people, and I feel bad - Applebee's! Modell's - they just donated about $450 of hockey gear."

You don't play for the Squirrels to impress the scouts; you play for the mental break, the  competitive rush, the exercise, and all the other motivators of guys who've got to get up for work in the morning.

On a Wednesday night some months ago, Phil and Ray were back on the ice after Phil's surgery, screwing around.

"After all the crap Phil and his family are going through," Morton recalls, "to just have two buddies go out… to me, to all the guys, that was really something that hits you."

"That's their night out," he says. "To go play hockey."

Face Off Against Cancer Hockey Tournament 

September 7, 2013

Tickets: $10-$50

Aston Ice Works

3100 W. Duttons Mill Rd. Aston, PA 19014