LEWISTON — There are home games, and then there are family reunions.
Connor Anthoine’s first college hockey season at SUNY-Geneseo ended in a trip to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four.
Long the domain of arguably America’s most historic hockey village, Lake Placid, N.Y., that mass gathering moved this winter to another community that pucks and skate sharpeners built.
Yes, that fair city doubles as Anthoine’s hometown. And that was … well … mostly a blessing.
“This is probably the most people I know that I’ve played in front of in a really long time, at least this year,” Anthoine said. “It was really exciting, and I think it kind of got hold of me for a little while. I think I finally got my head on right.”
His team followed suit, ever so briefly.
Making its first appearance in a national semifinal Friday afternoon, Geneseo rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie St. Norbert College of De Pere, Wis., a program that pretty much has a standing hotel reservation on the next-to-last weekend every March.
St. Norbert sophomore Michael Hill scored twice in the final 2:31 of the second period, however, and the Green Knights scored two more goals late in the third to send the Knights in navy blue packing.
In the quintessential quartet for the ninth time in a dozen years, St. Norbert will try to make it three titles out of four Saturday night. Geneseo’s season concluded at 23-7 and ended with a hell of an experience.
None better than that of Anthoine, whose family and friends were responsible for a healthy chunk of the 2,200 spectators.
“Most of them are from New England and a lot are from Lewiston. It was really fun to play in front of people who couldn’t really see me during the year, because Geneseo is pretty far away. This was really nice to have that,” Anthoine said. “Honestly it was surreal. I couldn’t even believe it at first. Then once I got settled in after warm-ups and the first period I felt pretty good about being home again. It was definitely a blast to play here again.”
As was the case with older brother Mark, who recently concluded his run at the University of Maine, Connor’s career was has long been a road show.
Androscoggin Bank Colisee is home ice by default, but even Anthoine acknowledged that he hasn’t logged many shifts here since the Lewiston Maineiacs came to town. ‘Twas more than a decade ago, for those of you who are like me and appreciate daily reminders of your advancing age.
“The ice was a little harder than from what I remember,” he said. “It’s quite a different spread they have going on now.”
Anthoine was 14 when he verbally committed to play at Division I University of Vermont.
That’s grizzled by today’s standards. Yarmouth seventh-grader Oliver Wahlstrom gave the same token to the Maine earlier this winter.
But the native son’s junior hockey career led him away from Lewiston and steered him down a different road. Judging from Friday’s foray into uncharted territory, it may be a special journey.
Geneseo went check-for-check and blast-for-blast with the team that boasts the best offense and best defense this season and the most prolific record in D3 hockey since the turn of the century.
Anthoine had one notable first-period turnover, and his teammates missed uncontested opportunities to go up 1-0 and even 2-0 before finding their legs.
“I don’t think we came out as well as we wanted to in the first period. They caught us by surprise for sure,” Anthoine said. “I think we battled back as hard as we could. We played our hearts out, and that’s really all you can ask for at the end of the day. They’re a very good team. We’re really happy that we made it here and have done this well for our school.”
It was Friday afternoon, and the 5 o’clock whistle hadn’t sounded yet.
The crowd, therefore, was a sparse section or two beneath what Anthoine is accustomed to seeing and hearing at his adopted home. In the Empire State, though, the guy wearing sweater No. 9 has a much less captive audience.
“We usually play in front of 3,000 a game, which is great for our school, but it’s usually students, so people you see every day,” Anthoine said. “It’s exciting to play in front of that, but this was definitely a fun crowd to play in front of because it was home.”
Tastes of home were a regular part of championship week. Thanks to Anthoine’s mom and the mother of roommate Matt Lee of Waterville, Geneseo players will continue to enjoy that local flavor.
The ladies were responsible for “Welcome to Maine” goodie bags.
“I definitely said they have to throw something in there with lobsters, so they got them those little chocolate lollipops that are lobster shaped,” Anthoine said. “Matt loves the whoopie pies from Freeport, so his mom got plenty of those.”
Anthoine’s team also was treated to a luncheon at Martindale Country Club in Auburn, where the local athlete was reunited with his summer work colleagues.
Good times and good eats, for sure. But Anthoine hopes the stuff his team packed away from the visit to his backyard lasts longer than a full belly of seafood or a sugar high.
“We’ve got to get ready for next season and hopefully get back again. We’ve got most of the guys coming back,” he said. “Our seniors did an unbelievable job leading our team, so we’ve got to get that back with our juniors next year, but I think it’ll be looking good and I’ll be looking forward to see how it turns out.”
And wherever that journey takes SUNY-Geneseo, if it ends with Anthoine and friends hoisting a D3 championship trophy, he’ll feel right at home.
Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His email is koakes@sunjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Oaksie72.
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