By Dave Diamond

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.-Regardless of what was taking place within those 60 minutes, it just had to feel better to get back on the ice.

For the Pride ice hockey club, it is not an 8-5 loss to Fordham in the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC) semi-finals that will sting forever. No season-ending loss could ever match the sinking feeling of a loved one lost, and the breathtaking realization that a teammate is gone.

At around 3 a.m. last Monday morning, Pride senior Vin Kelly, 22, was killed when he lost control of his car and hit a utility pole on Lakeville Road in New Hyde Park. Kelly was returning home from his own men’s league game out east, and did attend the Pride’s 9-1 victory over CCM at Long Beach Arena last Saturday night.

Only a day after the funeral the team had to suit up for a playoff game that did not seem nearly as important as it did a week ago.

“We knew we were playing for him,” captain Matt Orenstein said. “Everything that we had going on tonight was for him. We didn’t let him down, because he knows that we played as hard as we possibly could, but it’s not a situation you ever see yourself going through.”

The effort was apparent for the Pride, as it played in front of numerous members of the Kelly family that bravely cheered the team on at The Rinx in Hauppauge. Kelly’s parents stood side by side at the players’ entrance during warm-ups to give a hug and kiss to all of the players as they passed. Kelly’s father wore his son’s team warm-up jacket throughout the night.

“When we saw his family here I got choked up,” Pride assistant captain Steve Wagner said. “We all got choked up, and we came out flying because of it. It’s really hard to take something like that and use it as motivation instead of an excuse…but everybody gave everything they had right through the last minute.”

Perhaps the most emotional moment came as the two teams stood on their respective blue lines before the opening face-off. At that point, Pride head coach Brian Ferrara, a line-mate with Kelly only a year ago, stood at center ice to address the crowd. Ferrara, his voice cracking with emotion, presented Kelly’s No. 17 jersey to a younger cousin representing the Kelly family. The youngster first wore the jersey and took a lap around the ice. Then he took it off and held it up, letting the sweater sway in the frozen air, through a silence only broken by the sniffles from mourners unable to hold back their tears.

“It was special. It was hard for me to do it…he was a great kid,” Ferrara said.

After what passed by as a blur, but must have seemed like an eternity for the Pride, the final buzzer sounded, ending the Pride’s season and leaving players and fans to their own thoughts about their fallen teammate and friend.

“Vin was a kid who was so talented, had so much God-given ability and was one of the most laid-back people you will ever meet,” Ferrara said. “The locker room just lit up every time he walked in. I believe it was in the eulogy that his uncle gave when he said ‘the only thing he didn’t have was time.'”