{"id":802869,"date":"2020-01-08T18:45:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T01:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=377012"},"modified":"2020-01-08T18:45:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T01:45:57","slug":"fdny-bravest-hockey-team-takes-on-breckenridge-vipers-and-the-ski-slopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/fdny-bravest-hockey-team-takes-on-breckenridge-vipers-and-the-ski-slopes\/","title":{"rendered":"FDNY Bravest hockey team takes on Breckenridge Vipers and the ski slopes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Breckenridge Vipers play the New York City Fire Department for the first time Tuesday, Jan. 7, at Stephen C. West Ice Arena in Breckenridge. FDNY defeated the Vipers 7-1.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 For the members of the New York City Fire Department hockey team, April in Madison Square Garden is the one game they play the entire season for.<\/p>\n

The game at the hallowed 18,202-seat midtown Manhattan venue know as \u201cThe World\u2019s Most Famous Arena\u201d has sold out for four consecutive years. On one side, family, friends and members of the New York City Police Department cheer on their brothers in blue. On the other, FDNY family, friends and firemen root on a team of players who don\u2019t have a name on the back of their jerseys. Rather, each jersey reads \u201cBravest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t put names on it because we are one,\u201d fireman Frank Heal said.<\/p>\n

Tom Reno is FDNY Hockey\u2019s general manager, head coach and a retired veteran of the the FDNY-NYPD game for nearly a quarter century. Before he donned the Bravest uniform for two decades, he played three years for the NYPD. He says the annual game, scheduled this year for April 4, is each department\u2019s equivalent of the Army-Navy game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still honored to be a part of the team,\u201d Reno said. \u201cIt\u2019s always felt like \u2018The Big Game.\u2019 You feel like you\u2019re a pro for a day. There\u2019s guys in the NHL, I can assure you, who never played in (Madison Square Garden) with a sold-out crowd. And we play for the tradition of our job. No matter the hockey, we\u2019re representing the firehouse and the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reno said the FDNY\u2019s current half-vacation, half-hockey trip to Breckenridge, Vail and Aspen \u2014 its second team trip to the Rocky Mountains \u2014 is a crucial experience to prep the Bravest\u2019s players for the April match. That\u2019s because during games like Tuesday evening\u2019s 7-1 win over the Breckenridge Vipers at Stephen C. West Ice Arena, the Bravest are able to play full-check hockey against semipro-caliber competition. During the rest of their season leading up to facing the NYPD, the games aren\u2019t the kind of physical, full-check hockey they\u2019ll play versus The Blue in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe, being the nut I am, I thought, \u2018Let me see if I can get more games,’\u201d Reno said. \u201cSo I reached out to Vail and Aspen, and we made a weeklong trip \u2014 one day off in each area. We\u2019re playing four games in seven nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome guys on our team only see checking one time a year,\u201d the coach added. \u201cThis is exactly what the doctor ordered for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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