Craig Blum '86, wrote a heartwarming note to members of
the Athletics Department to thank them for honoring him at a recent tribute to
the 1983-84 hockey team, the first team to make it to an NCAA hockey finals.
“You guys really made me feel welcome, even though I was
just a scrub,” he wrote. “During the reception, I began to feel more and more
uncomfortable about the prospects of going out to center ice to be honored.
However [you and the team] insisted I belonged out there with everyone else in
the team photo.”
“When I was a senior in '86, Charlie [Morrison, head
coach] asked me to stay on for the rest of the varsity season to practice,
which ended up being two months. I was the only one he asked, but he made it
clear, 'Blummer, I'd like to have you practice, but the only way you'll play is
if someone gets hurt.' I tried for two months to hurt someone on the ice, but
my 150 pounds didn't make a dent. I then tried some off-ice tactics, but
everyone was extremely resilient. I never did get to play, but as the season
got extended into the ECAC playoffs, and then the NCAA tournament, I really
began to feel a small part of the team.
“I remember having my locker next to Curt Cole '86, captain.
One day he told me, 'Blummer, you are part of this team, now.' That meant a lot
to me at the time, even if I didn't tell him that. I got to travel with the
team and I was even announced as a healthy scratch a bunch of times.”
“Since those two special months in February and March of
1986, I never regained that same feeling, even at alumni game after alumni
game.
“That is, until Saturday night. I still feel that I didn't
deserve to have Eric Hornick '86 announce my name and say a few nice words
about me, and then walk out to center ice and receive that commemorative stick.
However, not one person let me know that, and I just wanted to let everyone
know how much I appreciated that. So, that's what it feels like to be on the
ice at Achilles Rink at night …”
Blum, of Freehold, N.J., is vice president of sales for a
small manufacturing company in the adhesives and sealants industry. He and his
wife, Kerrie, have two sons, Jared and Tyler.