Camaraderie Lasts Forever for Adult Hockey Players
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – Red Wing 60-plus coach Ken Payette’s lasting memory of Pat Sahli isn’t of him passing away from sepsis.
It also isn’t of Sahli finding out that doctors discovered a tumor in his nasal passages when he originally told them he thought he had a nasal infection because he sniffled so much.
No, Payette remembers what Sahli did a month before his passing.
“He scored the winning goal,” Payette said.
For the players who took part in the 2025 USA Hockey The Long Drink Adult Men's National Championships, winning a title is great and the goals are special, but what they remember most is the time they spent together on and off the ice.
It’s amazing how hockey can bring these guys so close together.
When a cherished member of the team passes — like Sahli — the team finds unique ways to remember the spirit of the person as well as the talents of the player.
Payette, whose team is from Minnesota and Wisconsin, said Sahli eagerly agreed to be the team’s sponsor after he and the players had a few beers.
“He was the original founder, and he recruited guys,” Payette said. “He also was a good player. Not flashy, but smooth and steady. He found the open area.”
Two years ago, the team won a championship for their owner, who died in November 2024. To honor him, the players put stickers with his No. 7 on the back of their helmets.
Payette, who’s pushing 70, said he still loves to skate and compete.
“We all love skating,” he said. “And we all have that camaraderie.”
Red Wing is far from the only team that plays in honor of a former teammates.
For the last few years, the Northland Stars — who won the 50-plus Tier 1 championship this year — have held a banquet where they have dinner together in a private room.
Steve Wendorf wondered this year why he and his teammates continue to play such a physical sport at their age.
“You’d think, ‘Why don’t we come down here and play golf?” he said.
Teammate Jeff McMurchie then chimed in.
“But it’s an adrenaline rush,” he said. “It’s fun.”
Wendorf continued, “When you boil it down, it’s camaraderie. We all have a job but when we come down here, we don’t think about anything but competing. We forget about everything else. Sorry, ladies.”
One of their teammates was Steve Jensen, a 1975 national champion at Michigan Tech who had multiple stints playing internationally for the U.S., including the Olympics and Canada Cup in 1976.
Jensen also enjoyed a seven-year NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars and Los Angeles Kings. From 1980-82, he led all American players in goal scoring. He tallied 113 goals and 107 assists in 438 NHL games. During a pro stint in Switzerland after his NHL days, he scored seven goals in one game.
Jensen later founded and directed the Heartland Hockey Camp for more than four decades.
The Northland Stars have now played at nationals multiple times without Jensen, who passed away in 2022.
Wendorf said Jensen loved to give pre-game speeches and sounded like Chris Farley in the “Saturday Night Live” sketch, Van Down By The River.
“I’d look at Jeff and say, ‘Is this a bit?’” Wendorf said. “But when he was done, I’d say, ‘Yeahhhh, let’s go.’”
McMurchie added, “I never saw anyone who had the same passion for hockey. He’s looking down on us.”
The Chicago Sharks also have a dinner after the season where players give speeches. The past few dinners haven’t included treasured teammate Mark Slimburg, who died of bone cancer in 2022.
“He was one of the OGs,” John Koufis, player-owner of the Chicago Sharks said. “He had it for three years and fought super hard.”
To honor Slimburg, Chicago’s players have his number on their black jerseys. They also bring his jersey to tournaments and hang it on the team’s bench.
“It’s family,” Koufis said. “It’s so much bigger than hockey. We win together, lose together, party together. Families interact.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Source: usahockey.com