I had two nicknames in school.  One was sunshine.  The other was penalty.

Today I am going to talk about the nickname penalty.

You are probably asking yourself, how in the world, Neil, did you get a nickname of penalty?  how could this sweet young man ever end up with a nickname of penalty?

I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone else having such a nickname.

The answer of course relates to my favorite sport – ice hockey.

As you know, particularly if you read my blogs, hockey is a sport where penalties are part of the game.  It is very rare to have a game of hockey played without a penalty being called.

I played varsity hockey in a New England prep school known for its hockey, and then followed that by playing Freshman and Varsity hockey at Williams College (#11 in the picture), a Division III school in northwestern Massachusetts.  I played wing on the forward line throughout my prep school hockey career and also during my freshman and sophomore years in college.  But, in my junior year in college my coach and I agreed that I should try playing defense.

This was a little unusual for I was the smallest guy on the team.  Just 160 pounds, and barely 6 feet tall.  Why would the coach put someone like me back on defense.

I believe that his thinking was that the team needed someone to add a little spark to the game.  Someone that would help get the rest of the team energized.

I was not the best skater on the team, by far.  I was not the best stick handler on the team, by far.  I was not the best goal scorer on the team, by far.  I was not the best playmaker on the team, by far.

But, I was arguably one of the most energetic guys on the ice.  I loved the game. I loved just being able to be in the game.  I loved skating.  I gave it my all.  I was just so proud to be on the team and to be able to compete at this level.  I played my heart out.  And I am very competitive.

As a defenseman part of my job was to make sure no one on the other team got by me with the puck on his stick.  My job was to separate the competitor from the puck.  What this usually meant was to check the opposing player.

There are two ways of “checking” the opposing team’s player that is skating down the ice, coming toward you and your goal at a high rate of speed.  One is by what is called stick checking, where you just use your hockey stick to separate the puck from the opponent’s stick.  The other way to check is called a body check.

I used the body check as my favorite way of separating the opponent’s player from the puck.  I did this for two reasons.  One, body checking often times takes much less skill than stick checking.  And two, I loved to check people with my body.

And check the opponents I did.

I set the Williams College record for the most penalty minutes in a game and the most penalty minutes in a season.  As far as I know, my records still stand – some 60 years later.

What is even more amazing, in hindsight, about my “record” is that I don’t believe that I was ever in a fight.  Never had a penalty for fighting that I can remember.

There are two moments that stand out as I think back on those days.

Needless to say I was sent to the penalty box many times during my college hockey career.  Yet, I remember one game in particular on our home ice in the college’s Chapman Rink, when I was incensed for having received a penalty.  I was fuming mad.  Mad that I received a penalty.  Mad at the referee for calling the penalty.  I was also mad at the other team’s player that got entangled with me.  And to be honest, mad at myself for taking such a ridiculous penalty.

For all these reasons when I skated over to the penalty box I was hot.  I was fuming.  The penalty box when I played was made of wood, with a bench to sit on, and the box was enclosed on three sides by a wooden wall approximately 4+ feet tall.  The fourth side faced the ice.  In modern day hockey the penalty box is totally enclosed with glass partitions.

Instead of sitting on the bench with my skates on the floor of the penalty box which is what I was supposed to do, I put my skates on the bench and then sat on the top of the wall surrounding the penalty box.  I did this because I was so upset about getting the penalty, the last thing I wanted to do was calmly sit on the bench to serve my two-minute penalty.

The penalty box was surrounded by fans in the stands.  The next thing I know, I am falling over backwards into the crowd.  I apparently lost my balance momentarily and before I knew what had happened I had fallen backwards into the stands.

Needless to say, crawling back up, climbing into the penalty box was one the most embarrassing moments of my hockey career.  Complete humiliation.

The second incident that comes to mind as I think back on those days, took place in Maine, when Williams was playing Bowdoin College during their winter carnival weekend.  i had played the entire game with no breaks.  In the final 3 minutes of the game during a stoppage of play because of an offside, my coach motioned for me to come off the ice, as he sent in another player to take my spot.  This is sometimes done in sports when the coach wants to give the fans an opportunity to show their appreciation to the athlete for his effort and performance during the entire game.

In my case, when this happened, rather than get a standing ovation from the crowd, I received a standing boo.  Yes, indeed.  A standing boo.  It was the crowd’s way of letting me know that I had done my job by making it miserable for the Bowdoin players as they came down the ice toward our goal.  I can’t remember how many penalties I got that game, but I am sure it was a lot.

Bottom line, nicknames have some history behind them.

For some, penalty is a nickname that carries negative connotations.  For others, hopefully, it is a nickname that carries positive connotations. In my case, I must admit that I am proud of my nickname – penalty.