Around the Globe: Hockey Heroes and Helping Hands

The anxiety I felt about unresolved issues dissipated as I navigated today’s Boston Globe.

Kevin Cullen’s front-page piece about Sudbury’s Scott Milley, a hockey player, isn’t so much about hockey as it is Millen’s sacrifice and his family’s grief.

If that story touches your heart, if not your tear ducts, then Cindy Cantrell’s Metro West story about Kasey, a Helping Hands miracle monkey, might make you laugh. I did. Couple the capuchin’s personality with her purpose, to rescue not only a once-athletic Concord kid but also his family, and you’ve got a story to boost slumping spirits. The story also made me think of Travis Roy.

Concord’s own (via Buffalo), Kevin Paul Dupont, reflects upon the inherent rigors of building a backyard rink. Impossible for hockey enthusiasts and storytellers like me to not to think of Jack Falla, who consulted on KPD’s  project but who is not to blame for the debacle, to be grateful for fond Falla memories.

Still in Sports, Dupes delivers a dose of sadness about a fun man: On page C9, amidst the hockey news, is a snippet about Buffalo-based hockey writer Jim Kelley, who was claimed by cancer. Sad for Dupes, who knew Kelley well, and for me, even if I never met him.

Then again, I never met Scott Milley. But reading these stories has helped me surrender my self pity. They gave me, you might say, a helping hand.