Rink reunion: 1996 national hockey champs gather 20 years after glory

The stories flowed, even before the beers did. And in the midst of hockey hydration, the only things louder than the memories were the chirping and the laughter among the Alaska All Stars of 1996.

Twenty years later, the boys were back together in Anchorage, where it all began, and it was game-on again, a reunion furnishing flashbacks to their national championship season.

Ask Chris Heisten, the semifinal overtime hero at nationals, about how he roofed the winning goal top shelf yet somehow managed to whiff the celebratory dog pile when he tried to dive atop it.

Pump Josh Kern for some details about the post-game brawl in the handshake line at the regional tournament in Seattle — possibly, perhaps, just maybe, he precipitated events.

Remember the post-tournament hijinks at the Mac's in Calgary, or at that tournament in Marquette, Michigan? Uh, turns out, what happens in Calgary stays in Calgary.

Here it was, two decades later, men in their 30s, many with families — at this table a commercial airline pilot and a pharmacist, at another a firefighter and a financial adviser — and they vividly remembered those T-shirts the Team Illinois players wore to the rink at nationals. "It's all about the ring,'' the T-shirts read — not that the All Stars required more motivation, but they filed that in their collective memory for later.

All but a couple of the 1996 Alaska All Stars, and their coaches, are gathered here this week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their teenage triumph.

They won the USA Hockey Tier I midget national championship for players 17 and under. They went 48-3-2. Their linchpin was center Scott Gomez, who has played 16 NHL seasons and twice won the Stanley Cup. A dozen of the All Stars went on to play college hockey and at least seven played pro hockey.

The reunion began Thursday night at the 49th State Brewing Company in downtown Anchorage. A barbecue was set for Friday and weekend fishing planned on the Kenai Peninsula.

Sure, 20 years had passed since they won their national championship in Lisle, Illinois, yet Thursday night it was like old times. Teammates, many of whom had not seen each other in years, some in decades, picked up conversations as if they had seen each other the day before.

"How many things in life circle back like that?'' marveled Greg Wertz, who lives near Portland, Oregon, and is a pilot for Alaska Airlines.

The idea of a reunion was hatched about a year ago. It started with text messages, then group texts, then group emails and excited Facebook messages, replete with no small amount of chirping.

"Like the locker room again,'' Wertz said with a laugh.

These guys are from a different generation of Alaska hockey players, and not just in terms of age. Back when they were in high school, the best players often didn't leave town for junior hockey until their senior year, so competition hockey under the USA Hockey umbrella was a big deal.

"That was the prime time,'' happy-go-lucky Gomez recalled, wistful. "Those were the years you got ready for. No one left so young back then. That was the time to get together.''

[Gomez back in NHL, signs with Senators]

The All Stars, a collection of players from high schools throughout the Anchorage area, were a talented, puck-possession team — "white collar,'' said assistant coach Pete McEnaney, the former UAA center.

And confident too.

"We knew, on any given night, we were going to win,'' Heisten said, matter-of-factly.

Gomez centered wingers Kern and Jeff Carlson, both of whom played Division I college hockey, at Minnesota State-Mankato and UAA, respectively. Heisten, who later captained Maine and played for the Alaska Aces, played on a line with Paul Gonzalez, who skated at Army, and Peter Summerfelt, who played at Dartmouth. Ben Brady (Iona College) was the No. 1 goaltender.

The bench boss was Scott McLeod, the former Seawolf. Players, unprompted, raved about him.

"You respected him because he knew what he was doing,'' said Kern, who trains and develops hockey players in the Minneapolis area. "He sat down with every player, and our parents, at the start of the season and he said, 'I need your commitment, and we're going to win nationals, and this is what you need to do.' "

Said Heisten, a financial adviser in Anchorage: "He allowed us to use our creativity.''

During that championship season, Heisten initially played left wing on Gomez's line. McLeod juggled the lines, putting Kern, a physical winger, in Heisten's spot and making an all-Dimond High second line out of Heisten, Gonzalez and Summerfelt. Kern's presence as a deterrent kept opposing flies off Gomez, the team's most skilled player and leading scorer, and also gave the All Stars a potent second line. Plus, Kern was plenty skilled enough to play with Gomez, who was also his high school teammate at East, and Carlson.

When defenseman Eric Lawson of Eagle River and Chugiak, who started the season playing for Team Illinois, decided he wanted to return home around Thanksgiving and rejoin the All Stars, McLeod put it to a team vote.

"We voted him back on the team — it was unanimous,'' Heisten recalled.

After winning the regional in Seattle, where Kern confessed, yes, he instigated the post-game brawl in the handshake line — "But I've changed,'' he noted — the All Stars advanced to nationals in Illinois.

In the semifinals, they trailed the Marquette Electricians 3-1 entering the third period, and forced overtime — Kern, Summerfelt and Luke Pavlas scored regulation goals for Alaska. Brady made 28 saves, and Heisten delivered the game-winner in OT on a play he said would probably be a penalty in today's game.

"Paul Gonzalez hit a guy from behind, really hard, and the puck popped free,'' Heisten recalled. "I got it and had a 2-on-1 with Summerfelt. He was calling for the puck, but I thought, 'This might be my only chance for an overtime goal.' I don't know if my eyes were open, but it went in.''

The All Stars flooded off their bench and formed a celebratory dog pile. The pile moved, Heisten remembered, just as he launched himself toward it, and he slid into the boards. So he got up and launched himself again, and landed atop the pile.

The All Stars handled Team Illinois easily, 6-2, in the championship game. Gomez scored twice, and Carlson, Summerfelt, Pavlas and Mike Lee, the team's youngest player at 15, each scored goals. Brady made 18 saves.

After beating the team with which he started the season, Lawson knew he'd made the right choice in returning home.

"Even at 16,'' he recalled, "you want vindication that you made a good decision.''

And remember, Team Illinois was the one with the T-shirts — "It's all about the ring.''

"It was nice to win it, and shove it down their throat,'' Wertz said.

Of course, maybe it was all about the ring.

Wertz and his teammates are sporting theirs this week.