Erik Kent of the Danbury Mad Hatters………….and Newburyport

Erik gets set for the opening faceoff.

A while ago I saw a story in the Newburyport Daily News about a young man from Newburyport who was playing professional hockey for the Danbury (CT) Mad Hatters. I have family within ten miles of Danbury. When a trip was arranged to visit I decided to see if I could do a story on the young man – Erik Kent.

I assumed that I could do a better story for The Town Common than the Daily News had done because I was actually going to go where the player was and not rely on a phone interview. Everything fell into place nicely and I met Erik after his morning skate at the Danbury Ice Arena on Friday March 12th.

He was a good interview despite having a bad cold. He was excited about the recent Newburyport Division 2 championship because he was the team’s assistant coach last season.

I also had a chance to visit with the team’s business manager and he gave me a ticket to that night’s game with Hudson Valley. That night I was part of a crowd of close friends and relatives. Danbury won 6-2 but had at least 60 shots on net. In one play the Danbury team went in 4-on-none on the beleaguered HV goalie and took three rapid-fire shots without scoring. Erik had the last shot and headed to the bench shaking his head.