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14 // AUGUST 2020 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM ILLUSTRATION BY Darren Gygi JASON SIMONSEN Age: 48 Topeka, Kan. Jason Simonsen didn't play a lot of hockey as a kid, but it's been a huge part of his life as long as he can remember. Simonsen was around the sport growing up in North Dakota but opted for other sports such as baseball and boxing. It wasn't until his nephew got inter- ested in the game that it became part of his identity. The Level 5 coach travels 100 miles round trip up to four times a week to coach two programs within the Kansas City Saints organization. His teams are some of the most successful in the area, and Simonsen focuses on developing not only good players, but good people as well. "At the end of the day, it goes back to my medical stuff and what I told myself at 14 years old," said Simonsen, who has lived with hydrocephalus, a con- dition of water on the brain, since 1986. "Live every day to the fullest because you never know if it will be your last. As a player or a coach, I say 'all in' every shift because you never know if it's going to be your last shift.' Enjoy it while you can." "Uncertain." "Unprecedented." How many times have we heard these words over the last several months? T h e r e w e r e l o t s o f d i s c o v e r y when I reached out to my closest hockey mom friends for some pan- demic soul searching. "I was stunned," hockey mom Je n n T h i e b e n r e c a l l s. " Ho c ke y never gets canceled." Not only did hockey get canceled, but everything in our lives was put on hold, and the challenges seemed endless. Jenn's son had a tourna- ment planned for Lake Placid, N.Y., and her daughter's college team had qualified for the NCAA tournament after a great season. "We made it to the sweet spot of the year when the pandemic hit," Shannon Nanne recalls. "No time to say goodbye or celebrate the season that we grew together." Shannon's kids weren't prepared for the series of disappointments either. Life as they knew it, stopped. No friends, no family, no church, no sports, no restaurants, nothing. A pause in life, like nothing any of us have ever seen. But the sacrifices we made during the coronavirus pandemic made us draw on the lessons we hope our kids to learn through sports, i n c l u d i n g h ow t o b e resilient. We've discov- ered a few things about ourselves along the way. " We m i s s h o c k e y v e r y m u c h ," J a c k i e Donegan says. "But we e n j oy e d d o i n g ot h e r things that the hockey season prevented us from doing in the past." Instead of being separated every weekend traveling to different plac- es, the Donegan's spent weekends as they rarely do, as a family. So did Palma Filighera. "We have eaten dinner together as a family every night, allowing us to laugh, discuss current events, even have respectful disagreements [okay, arguments]," Filighera says. The time also provided an oppor- tunity for her kids to learn how to deal with adversity. They found new ways and places to train and smart devices to help them along the way. "There are truly devastating facts about this virus and its effects on our world as a w h o l e ," Je n n say s. "But it has really given us an opportunity to slow down and reflect on what is important. H o p e f u l l y, w e l e a r n that it is good to take a break." W h a t d o y o u d o w h e n t h e w o r l d a s y o u k n ow i t grinds to a halt? Like these hock- ey families, you take what you've learned and take each twist and turn as they come. Hockey families will likely draw on the known qualities that have m a d e u s r e s i l i e n t . We 've n e ve r experienced anything like it, and maybe, in some ways, we are stron- ger and better for it. P BEH I N D THE G L A SS Hopefully, we learn that it is good to take well- deserved breaks. THE HOCKEY MOM By Christie Casciano Burns Hockey Families Revel In Their Pandemic Power Play COACH OF THE MONTH