By William R. Cope III

Parents jump out of their "Dorchester Youth Hockey" bumper-stickered cars and are running towards the entrance of the Devine Hockey Rink on Morrissey Boulevard with hockey gloves in one arm and a pair of size 6 skates in the other. Their little Bobby Orrs and Joe Thorntons run ahead, carrying along bags so big the kids themselves could fit inside.

It is a typical Sunday afternoon in the middle of hockey season for the members of the Dorchester Youth Hockey League and their families.

"We have three kids in the league and we love it here. It is a great program and it keeps them, and us, busy" says Ralph Wilson. Wilson's wife and their youngest son join him. For them it is just another Sunday as they move over to another group of Dorchester parents also watching their kids.

"The other parents are great, too," Wilson says. "We have a lot of fun together. We get to meet people that we would have not met otherwise."

Bridget Joyce and her friend and manager of the D Bantam 3s, Michelle Stone, love what the league teaches their kids.

Says Joyce, "The league teaches the kids sportsmanship, discipline and how to be team players."

The Devine Rink is named after Robert M. Devine, a 1948 graduate of Dorchester High School. Devine served in the Korean War and was known around Dorchester as a leader in and out of the classroom. The halls of the rink showcase his achievements as the vice president of his school and player on the football team. To the program's boosters, Devine encompasses exactly what the Dorchester Hockey League is all about - success on and off an athletic arena.

Pat Burns, coach of the Bantam C team, and his assistants Chris Morgan and Scott Riley, recognize these instilled values and point out that, "the kids are all very respectful and listen to us. I truly believe that it is because of this program and their families that they are like this."

Chuck Allen manages the rink, and his open-door policy enables him to forge relationships that transcend just hockey.

"It is like a big family down here. Everyone knows each other. Even parents and family from opposing teams walk around and talk to each other."

Three of Dorchester's most talented hockey players play on Allen's team that just won the District 10 Select U-16 State Championship, and are headed to the Nationals in March. Defensemen Ryan Joyce and Paul Delano, and goalie Matt Frechette, will skate against some of the country's best youth hockey teams.

Watching Dorchester tie Dedham 0-0 in the Bantam C game that afternoon - a team that beat them, 6-1, last time they played - it is hard not to recognize a fighting spirit in the kids. The Bantams hit surprisingly hard for a bunch of 13-and-14-year-olds, even when matched up against a team with greater size. None of the Dorchester kids backed down. Even when checking an opposing player only to be knocked down themselves, they still managed to disrupt the advancing of the puck into their territory. The kids had heart.

Unfortunately, not all is perfect in the league. Something beyond the realm of pucks and facemasks clouds an otherwise perfect day and season.

As reported in the Reporter last month, acting on Governor Mitt Romney's dedication to institute change in the state, Environmental Affairs Secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder has made overtures toward privatizing public ice rinks, like the Devine, formerly run by the now-defunct Metropolitan District Commission (MDC).

According to opponents of the plan, privatization would raise costs, cut jobs held by local kids trying to earn a few extra bucks, and essentially turn a blue-collar sport for kids into a rich man's game. Backers of the as-is state-controlled format charge that privatization would prevent inner-city kids from learning the game. It is places like the Devine Rink that charge the State's lowest rental fees that help bridge the gap between the kids and what could be an unrecognized God-given talent to skate and shoot a puck.

"Dorchester Youth Hockey is an advocate for state control," says Dan Fullam, president of Dorchester Youth Hockey. "The program would benefit from having the rinks stay in the state control. The major reasons would be affordability and accessibility. The kids are the most important factor in determining the status of the rinks."

Herzfelder disagrees, and has said that privatization would keep costs low while improving service. She is intent on creating what she says will become a "national model" for all recreational systems.

On the Department of Conservation and Recreation website, Herzfelder says that she "will direct resources to the facilities and communities that need them most."

"I really think that the governor shouldn't privatize the rink," Stone says. "So many good things come of the rinks being public. Young kids have a chance to be employed. It keeps them in the neighborhood. The kids have a place to go on weekend nights and it keeps them out of trouble. Kids meet here and skate with their parents and spend time together. If the rink becomes private, families can't do that. Things will change - it will be all about the money. These kids have known each other for years. It really instills in them a strong sense of community, and that is very important."

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