Milan's MacNicol family can trace roots through hockey rinks

MILAN -- Alex MacNicol's return to the ice will have to wait. Last month, COVID-19 claimed July's "Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament" in Santa Rosa, California. MacNicol, a 76-year-old Milan resident, North American Hockey League scout and lifelong hockey fan, was hoping to play in that tournament. It would've been his first time playing since his heart attack last May. MacNicol's wife, Sharon, feels thankful she was home when her husband fell in the shower. She usually worked as a teaching mentor at EHOVE Career Center in the mornings, but she stayed home that day for reasons she can't remember. MacNicol awoke from a coma after a few days. Within a week or two, Sharon remembers him returning to normal. Hospital workers were amazed by his recovery. Sharon, on the other hand, expected her husband to rebound. "Knowing him the way I know him, I knew he wasn't going to go down too easily," Sharon said. "I think it was the years of hockey that (helped him recover). It just gave him a strength to pull through." Ohio hockey family Sharon and Alex were introduced by Sharon's roommate Michelle at Ohio University, circa 1970. The hockey players lived in the dorm next door to Sharon and Michelle's on the west side of campus, and Michelle dated one of MacNicol's teammates. MacNicol came to Athens, Ohio, from Toronto. He was a starting forward and two-time captain for the Bobcats' hockey team. Sharon was a Milan native who had never seen a hockey game in person. She was more familiar with American sports such as football, basketball, baseball and cheerleading. Despite the sporting mismatch, however, the couple became fast friends. He was shy and quiet, the exact prototype she preferred. They got married in August of 1971, just months after they graduated college. From there, Alex earned a graduate degree from Western Michigan and got a job in Canada. Sharon taught, Alex worked in urban planning. They had fun. "We lived that way for quite a while," Sharon said. "Then we decided if we we're going to settle down and have some kids, we better to it soon." Around the same time, the MacNicols decided to return to stateside. Sean and Blake MacNicol were born in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and grew up in Milan. That's where, much like their father, the brothers quickly became rink rats. Blake remembers his dad as his biggest influence in he and Sean deciding to play hockey. "He coached me when I was younger," Blake said. "We went to the rink together, went to practice together." Eventually, both MacNicol children played for travel teams in Cleveland, but they played at different age levels. So when the boys had tournaments in different cities, Alex and Sharon would split the cheering duties. "We would literally get on (State Route 2) and one would go west and the other one would go east," Sharon said. Sean and Blake both followed in their parents' footsteps by graduating from Ohio University. Sean took the more traditional route, majoring in urban planning. He graduated in 2008 and worked at restaurants in Columbus and Florida before he died in 2017. Blake earned a scholarship to Division I Alabama-Huntsville as a goalie, and played there from 2006-2010 before transferring to Ohio for his final year of eligibility (a broken right hand cut his 2009-10 season at Huntsville short). His parents came to every home game at Bird Arena. "The crowds there just (bring) a big atmosphere," Blake said. "It was a blast. I think my dad had more fun down there when I was playing than when he was in school." Playing again A year after his heart attack, MacNicol is waiting on a doctor's clearance to skate again. After the heart attack, doctors prescribed him Brilinta, a blood-thinner that prevents his blood from clotting but causes him to bleed more when cut. To fill the hockey void, MacNicol scouts talent for the NAHL as a volunteer. Blake helped nab him the gig after Blake became the junior league's manager of hockey operations in 2013. Alex loves the work — he prefers players who skate fast and can handle the puck — but said he took the job so he could see Blake at tournaments. Even when they're not at work, though, Blake and Alex find the conversation drifting back to hockey. They've both been watching old playoff series on NHL Network during quarantine. "It's something we're always doing," Blake said. "It's a bond we've had forever." As for Sharon, Blake said he thinks his mother has become a hockey fan over the years. "She didn't have a choice," he said. "She got used to it pretty quick." Yes, the girl from Milan who had never seen a hockey game live has now seen hundreds. She's not much of a regular-season watcher, but she likes the playoffs. And she especially likes watching people she knows, whether that's her kids, her kids' friends or her husband's senior team. After watching Alex play at a senior hockey tournament in Hawaii, Sharon offered an endearing assessment of how his team played. "I said, 'You guys are all pretty good, but (the game) seems to me to be in slow motion,' " Sharon said. Sharon hopes that wasn't the last time she sees her husband play. She knows the ice can be a dangerous place for Alex, but she also knows hockey was his first love. She knows it brought them together and treasures the memories she has of watching her children play. And she believes the sport kept him alive last May. So as long as the doctor supports Alex playing again, Sharon does, too. "He's somebody who's breathed and slept and eaten and awakened with hockey his whole life, Sharon said. "And if that's the way he decides he wants to spend the last years of his life, I would never keep him from that. He knows that."