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that you only get two minutes for punch- ing somebody,” he quipped.
Yes, there’s a definitive attraction for members who play games before going on to work midnights, or after they fin- ish their daytime tours, or those on after- noons who trade days off to play.
“For me, it was a way to continue play- ing hockey for something bigger than myself,” added Barrera, who also serves as president of the organization’s board. “It’s a win-win. We get to do something we love and raise money for people in need.”
Rock Stars
The most recent win-win for the Stars actually ended in a loss, but the adven- ture has become so much of what they play for. On Feb. 8, the team traveled to Staten Island, New York to take on the FDNY hockey team as a benefit for the Ray Pfeifer Foundation, an adventure that began with some good old-fash- ioned social media trash talk.
Barrera and retired New York Firefight- er Rob Serra had been jousting on Twitter about which city had better pizza. Sera, who played for the FDNY team before an illness he contracted while respond- ing at the World Trade Center site on 9/11 forced him to leave the job and the game, asked if the Stars would come to New York to play the benefit. Pfeifer also played for the FDNY team before passing away from a 9/11-related cancer.
The New York firefighters provided a multi-truck escort for the Stars from the airport to the Staten Island Skating Pa- vilion. They also accompanied their Chi- cago public safety brothers on a tour of the 9/11 Memorial. That the game end- ed with the FOP Stars losing, 7-2, didn’t seem to matter.
One last post on social media summed up this adventure.
“For many of our players, this marked the first time they visited New York City, and a visit to the 9/11 Memorial was a must,” the team posted on its Facebook page on Feb. 10. “While every single one of us remembers where we were on Sept. 11, 2001, a visit to the memorial brings with it a much larger appreciation for everything that first responders did that day. While we have competed in many charity events across North America, this certainly had a special place in our hearts.”
No annual game has come to mean more to the Stars than the Law Enforce- ment Classic against the Chicago FBI for the benefit of the Honor Flight Network, a nonprofit organization that transports veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit and
36 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2020
Chicago Police Stars players signed a poster from the game against FDNY that benefited first responders who have contracted illnesses relat- ed to responding to attacks on 9/11.
reflect at their memorials. The ninth an- nual game to benefit the Honor Flight took place at the Edge in Bensenville on March 14, and once again World War II veterans – many of them in wheelchairs – lined the path from the dressing room to the ice and applauded as players passed.
“They’re thanking us for playing the game, and I got to tell you, I was almost in tears,” confided retired Officer Rich Aguilar, who has played with the team since its inception. “All these 85-year-old guys are thanking us, and I said to one guy, ‘You got it backwards. We should be thanking you because you got your asses shot off so I could play this game.’”
The first year, the game raised $25,000. In 2018, it raised $85,000 and in 2019, it topped six figures. That’s enough to sponsor two flights to D.C., and to start bringing Korean War and Vietnam War veterans, too.
Stars trek
The Stars travel to at least one tourna- ment each year, and adventures have in- cluded trips to play in Toronto, Windsor and London, Ontario. For the first trip, they rented a couple of 15-passenger vans, one loaded with equipment, and the other, well, you know.
“None of us had been to play in Can- ada, and our eyes looked like barn owls when we arrived,” Aguilar described. “We were going to play hockey in the motherland. Those Canadian teams took us lightly. We made it to the finals.”
They have played teams from Germa- ny, Finland and Russia in local events. And they have skated against the Black- hawks Alumni, which featured legends Cliff Koroll, Grant Mulvey, Steve Konroyd and Éric Dazé. Actor D.B. Sweeney has also skated with the Stars in one of the games against the FBI.
Some of the players lament never get- ting the chance to skate with the Hawks in the old Chicago Stadium. But Agu- ilar notes that he shared the ice with Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull, who each dropped pucks for ceremonial faceoffs
The annual game against the Chicago FBI to support the Honor Flight Network is a highlight of every Chicago Police Stars season. The ninth annual game was played March 14.
before Stars games.
One of the most memorable skates
for many Stars players has been partic- ipating in the Blackhawks First Stride program, which offers the opportunity for kids with disabilities to get on the ice. The joy of the kids was humbling, and Stars players pushed the ones who couldn’t physically skate around the ice on chairs.
“To go out there and skate around with them was a great experience,” confirmed Stars player Adam Katz, who works for the Investigative Response Team and has organized many of these charity events. “Events like that make this whole thing worth it.”
Rising Stars
There were no Stars when a group of Chicago Police Officers rented some ice on the South Side in 1990 to, as Barrera remarked, “Get out there and beat each other up.” He actually first skated with the Stars when he was in the academy 12 years ago. His father played for the team back then.
In 1989, Dougherty and fellow officers Matt Tobias and Dan Corcoran placed a notice in the Daily Bulletin looking for anybody interested in forming a police hockey team. By 1990, they gathered a group, some who had not played in 15 years, that entered a league at the Skokie Skatium.
Aguilar was 37 when he played in that full-contact league that was a bit over their heads. As a testament to the orga- nization, however, he, Dougherty and Tobias still skate with the over-50 team.
Following that first year, the team moved to play in a league at Johnny’s IceHouse on West Madison, around the corner from FOP headquarters. The or- ganization eventually grew to four teams playing in various skill levels of leagues at Johnny’s. Players from those teams fill out the rosters for the charity games.
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