We had a chance to meet Donald Brashear on Monday night. He is of course known as an "enforcer," someone who will drop the gloves and fight against anyone in the NHL. This was not my first time meeting him actually, as he has come to Ft Dupont Ice Arena before. The Kids on Ice Hockey Club, which is changing its names to the DC Presidents (which has a storied past in historic DC hockey circles), hosted Brash, along with Wilson High School's hockey team. Wilson is the first DC public school to have a hockey team, and they have Ft Dupont as their home ice this year.
It is always nice to see a professional athlete out there in the community, helping people and meeting kids. The Caps are really good at that. But I have to tip my hat to Brashear who came back again to this inner city ice rink to support two very worthy hockey programs. The Kids on Ice Club is where I started skating. It provides professional coaching, expensive ice time, and most importantly, the program also loans equipment to kids who need it. Hockey is expensive and this program exposes kids to hockey who would probably never be able to play otherwise.
Donald Brashear is a good guy, despite his tough guy reputation. He worked on the ice with both teams for an hour and a half, and then stayed on to sign autographs. Two years ago, I managed to get him to give me a game used stick and then sign it for my little brother. I surprised E with it for his Chanukah present, since "the Donald" is a lefty like him, and one of his favorite Caps. We had him sign some sticks for some friends of ours, and talked to him too.
The best part of the night though was seeing other kids there, who were able to see a professional hockey player who looked like them. Any kid who dares to dream that they could be a pro, or they could even be President, now knows that these days those dreams can come true.
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