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the
democrat and chronicle
friday, november 9, 2007
section
v hockey mourning loss of barrows
by
jeff diveronica
rochester - dan barrows loved to tell hockey stories,
and if you knew him you may have heard the one about the
first game he ever saw. it was an amerks game.
he was just a kid, and his father wanted him to go.
"he went kicking and screaming," recalled his wife,
lauren "laurie" barrows. "but as soon as they
dropped the puck, he was mesmerized."
that love affair with ice hockey ended early thursday
morning when barrows, 62, died of an apparent heart
attack. a 1963 graduate of aquinas institute and
former assistant coach at his alma mater, he had been
statistician/historian for monroe county high school
hockey league for more than 15 years. he also held
the same positions at the state level.
"he lived and breathed it," said jim mclean, 60, who
coached gates chili form 1980 to 2005. "the time
and energy he put into (covering hockey), his love and
passion for it, is unmatched by anyone i've met."
stunned members of section v and the local hockey
community say they have lost an unsung hero.
barrows was a tireless worker on section v's web site
and goal judge at rinks around rochester who wanted no
fanfare. he had great attention to detail, and his
fanfare. he had great attention to detail, and his
mind was like a hockey encyclopedia. "ask him
about any game, anytime, anyplace, and he knew it,
whether it happened last week or years age," said
webster thomas athletic director scott morrison,
co-chair of the recently renamed section 5 high school
hockey league. "he knew the kids from way back,
too." "he loved all those players," said his wife
of 32 years.
barrows, a city resident, retired in 1996 as a computer
programmer at monroe community college. he enjoyed
collecting hockey-related stamps, and he and laurie were
big fans of the rochester institute of technology men's
hockey team. she said a moment of silence in dan's
honor is planned before tonight's game against air force
at ritter ice arena. she plans to at the game,
cheering as she has done for about 25 years in the
"corner crew," fan club section.
"only now are we going to begin to understand how much
"only now are we going to begin to understand how much
dan did behind the scenes," morrison said. "he was
involved in every aspect of our league." "it might
take five people to do what he did," said chuck dossier,
32, who played at greece athena and is now coach of the
school's hockey team, the greece lightning. "he
was just so passionate about the sport."
dennis fries, who is on the hockey league's executive
board, said the web site, which includes statistics on
the area's top players now and through the years, was a
labor of love for barrows. fries would receive
e-mails from barrows sent at 3:30 in the morning, after
a long night at the rink and then updating statistics.
"hockey was his heart and soul," fries said. "what
a jovial guy. he could talk hockey for hours.
it's a devastating loss."
dennis sadler, who attended aquinas with barrows and is
the school's principal, said barrows first loved hockey
as a fan, then as a coach at aquinas. "he got a
taste of working with the students and followed that,"
sadler said.
over the years, most of section v players probably never
knew who barrows was or what he did. but they
probably knew his face and distinct voice because he was
always watching or talking about hockey.
"there's now a huge, huge void in our program," mclean
said.
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