ECHL: Atlanta Gladiators Stick It to Cancer Slated for 02/04/2024

Last weekend, I was able to take part in the “Paint the Ice” event for the Atlanta Gladiators’ upcoming Stick to Cancer night, which is happening on World Cancer Day – Sunday, February 4, 2024. That Saturday was jam-packed for me: player interview before the game, covering the game itself, and Star Wars night, where I helped with handling the characters as much as I could. I also helped out with the team potluck, so that was going on as well. A lot was happening at once, and though I felt it physically afterward, it was far more emotional than I expected when it was time to paint the ice. I had asked a young fan, Olivia, to help me out since I was so tired by that point in the night. Luckily for me, both Olivia and her mom agreed, and we both headed out to the ice to wait for our turn to start painting. Among us were other fans, players, and staff – all of us on the ice to honor or remember someone we love and care for.

Many people may not know this, but I had an important person to honor that night – my brother Christopher Hannington. He was a U.S. Army Veteran who served in the Gulf War and was awarded a Bronze Star. What I remember most about him were our childhood memories – playing army in the woods near our grandparents’ home in Canada, running around the yard in Maine, building a snowmobile made entirely out of snow on our picnic table, and writing letters with him and his army buddies while he was overseas in the Gulf. A time when none of us were sure if he would return home.

Luckily, he did return home, and after he left the military, as some veterans do, he struggled for a bit before finding his way. In 2014, everything would change. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer that year, right around my birthday, and he immediately began treatment. He would make it past his birthday barely a month later before we lost him. Aside from all he was for his country, he was a great person, a kind soul, and a humble human being. In all, I was so fortunate to call him my brother.

I have so many regrets from that time, as we often do when we lose someone. For me, it was not immediately jumping on a plane from Vegas, where I was living at the time, to see him in Georgia while he was undergoing treatment. In your head, you always think you have time. You trick yourself into believing that the worst won’t happen. He and I had both felt the same way when our mom died and had made every promise to not let that happen, but life sometimes takes those choices away.

Chris was given a military funeral, which was a heart-wrenching experience. Watching the American flag being folded and hearing the mournful sound of “Taps” being played for a loved one leaves an indelible impression on you. While standing by his grave afterward, among so many others who had served, a dragonfly landed on my foot. Now, every time I see a dragonfly, I can’t help but wonder if it’s him stopping by to say hello. If I believe that anything exists beyond this life, it’s comforting to think that my brother is watching me from somewhere, enjoying the fact that his younger sister is succeeding in sports in this way – a love we all inherited from our mother in some form or another.

“The world is made up of the big things that happen and the small ones. And the part that’s so unfair is that we call them “big” and “small”, because when something happens to you, when you lose something or someone that you really care about, that’s all there is. The world may be blowing up around you, but you don’t care about that. You don’t care about that at all.”

“Taken”, Sci-Fi Channel Mini-Series, 2002

When I had painted the ice that night, I honored my brother as I could by writing his name by the blue line, and both Olivia and I placed our handprints alongside it. As we walked off the ice, I told her I missed my brother and that he was such a cool guy. She just looked up and said that she was sorry. A young kid who loves hockey and is learning to play herself took the time to help me that night and offered a genuine smile as she said those words.

We often downplay these kinds of events in sports. Some may even chalk them up to gimmicks by teams to sell tickets and something that they have to do. Perhaps that is true. However, for me, as I sit here having just learned the news that a friend has breast cancer for the second time and thinking of the people I have lost or others have lost to cancer over the years, it is something far more personal than that. There is no way it cannot be. It will never be just an event to me.

Painting the ice that day was the first time I had been able to stand on the Gladiators’ home ice, and for all I know, it may be my only time getting to do so. I am thankful to have been given the chance to use that moment to honor my brother, who deserved far more years than he was given. I will be forever grateful to the team that had given me that opportunity. I have called it my happy place many times, but undoubtedly, that has taken on a different meaning for me now.

The Atlanta Gladiators will honor all those who currently battle cancer and those that we lost despite all their efforts to beat it when they host their Stick it To Cancer night on Sunday, February 4.