A fond farewell
ECHL ECHL

A fond farewell

by Jason S Rufner
November 8, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)


The old man and his wife ambled slowly along the carpet. All around them, without any provocation, the people in the arena took off their caps, stood up, and applauded, and applauded. Nothing had been said. Nothing had to be said.

Amid the dignified yet enthusiastic applause, the married couple turned and faced the assemblage, over 6,000 hands clapping in sincere appreciation. The elderly couple did not know any of the people in the arena, but the commonality was obvious: the mutual affection for one young man, the natural son of this man and this woman, the adopted son of an entire town, thousands of miles distant.

The applause slowed, but all remained standing. The finely dressed Inuit couple from Ranklin Inlet, Nunavut, looked around the arena, at the citizens of Roanoke, Virginia, many of whom were wearing their son's jersey. Some faces were smiling broadly, others looked somber, others sniffed back tears. Silence fell.

The public address announcer began, "Ladies and gentleman, on August 29, the Roanoke Valley lost a cherished member of its community: Terence Tootoo." He paused for breath.

"We love you, Tootoo!" came a young female shout from the crowd, before the P.A. announcer could continue. The first smacks of spontaneous applause were heard, and quickly spread again throughout the arena, complete with whistles and shouts. The first round was out of sincere respect; this time was from loving appreciation. The elderly folk began smiling noticeably.

As the noise abated, the P.A. announcer resumed. He spoke of the contributions Terence gave on and off the ice, of his fiercely competitive nature, of his devout altruism, of his love for his brother and his compassion for his native land in Nunavut and his adopted home in Roanoke. The money raised and donated to the Association for the Prevention of Suicide from the first annual Terence Tootoo Memorial Golf Tournament was announced to a raucous response. Express president Ashby Coleman spoke, and presented Mr. and Mrs. Tootoo with a framed replica of their son's Roanoke Express jersey. A member of the Roanoke Express booster club, her Tootoo jersey splattered with many autographs, thanked the parents for producing such a "fine young man" as Terence Tootoo, who passed his off-days with frequent visits to schools and hospitals.

Jordin, Terence's younger brother and a hot prospect with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the Canadian major junior ranks, spoke from a prepared card, his voice quaking with emotion as he stood by his parents. He rushed through his thanks; his three thousand new family members applauded encouragingly after his speech.

Lights shone on the two places under the fresh ice where a red heart had been painted, a black 22 somberly placed in its center. The announcer directed the fans' attention to the north end of the arena, where a white banner was unfurled. On it, the Roanoke Express logo, captioned by the words "TERENCE TOOTOO," and the number 22. It will never again be worn by a Roanoke player. The applause was deafening.

The opponent for that opening night was the Greensboro Generals, the team with which, as fate would have it, renowned goaltender Daniel Berthiaume, formerly of the NHL and five-year netminder for the Roanoke Express, as well as an exceedingly popular figure, had signed. Berthiaume had been released in the off-season in a move that upset many fans, but which Roanoke head coach Perry Florio justified by pointing to the ECHL veteran limit. On this day, clad in an unfamiliar uniform, Bert skated over from his lineup to Mr. and Mrs. Tootoo and hugged them each, to a rising crescendo of applause and shouts.

"I loved Terence like my own son. It was nice to be able to hug his parents [Barney and Rose] and tell them how much Terence means to me," Berthiaume later told the Roanoke Times.

Terence Tootoo's parents dropped the ceremonial first puck, and they waved to the masses whose appreciation for their son was overtly evident as they followed the red carpet off the ice and into a privileged box with Coleman to watch the game.

After establishing a three-goal lead in the second period, the Express watched as Greensboro tallied four of the next five goals, a couple of which were absolute flukes with which Roanoke goalie Evan Lindsay had no chance. With the score deadlocked and regulation time in its final seconds, an Express player dumped the puck in slowly toward the Generals' net. Time ticked to zero, the buzzer blaring simultaneous to Bertiaume nonchalantly fielding the puck and watching it slip past his glove and over the line.

A joyous eruption broke out, but the referee did not signal that the goal counted. After consultation with the goal judge, the ruling was that time had expired immediately prior to the puck crossing the line. The crowd booed its disapproval, hoping for a fairy tale ending which could be mythically attributed to the spiritual presence of Terence Tootoo.

An overtime session was necessary to break the 4-4 tie, which captain Rick Kowalsky was kind enough to provide with a solid, non-flukish slapshot over Bertiaume's stick-side shoulder on a break-away. The fans roared as the Express players gathered and celebrated, patting each other's helmets. Then each player went over and tapped his stick congratulatorily on the part of the ice with the black 22 centered in the red heart.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central.

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