The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
ARCS PERSEVERING, HONORING KORNET
Teammate died of Sudden Cardiac Arrest after a practice in February last season
“... It’s terrible, but you’ve just got to keep your head up and live each day by day and just give it your best.” — Brush’s Nick Iacobucci, on Alec Kornet
It was a day Brush knew was coming — and yet no one can truly prepare for it.
As the Arcs took the ice for their home opener Dec. 3 against Blue South foe Brooklyn at the Cleveland Heights Pavilion, it had been 292 days since everything changed.
Brush has battled a rough current throughout its hockey history with conviction — low numbers, inexperience and in some cases having to teach players how to skate on the fly.
But these uncharted waters are much different.
This winter, the Arcs also have a higher purpose.
It’s not just about wins and losses.
It’s not just about finding a way to program sustainability and making South Euclid-Lyndhurst a hockey community once and for all. It’s also about Alec Kornet.
Kornet, an affable junior and multi-sport athlete for Brush, died Feb. 14 after a hockey practice from what was later determined to be Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
For his hockey family, while Kornet may be gone, his memory is eternal.
“We just want to play for him as he would play for us,” Arcs junior forward Alex Miller said.
Miller is one of five holdovers — and four female players — on Brush’s roster. With the graduation of eight seniors from a year ago, Arcs coach Bryan Grushcow almost had to start from scratch in order to keep the program afloat.
Grushcow has long been realistic about the task, knowing it’s a part of being in the Blue, the lowest division of the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League. Brush has 12 skaters this winter and junior goaltender Mike Kornet — Alec’s younger brother.
For many players, games act as on-the-job training for backcheck, zone breakout and the like.
The Arcs have won 57 games in their 15-year history and three in the last three seasons, all against Garfield Heights. While adding to that total would be ideal, the calling is defined differently now while Brush carries on for Kornet.
“He was always a supportive, nice guy,” sophomore Nick Iacobucci said. “He had an amazing smile. If he just walked into the room, everyone knew he was in there even if they really didn’t see him at all because he had that kind of voice.
“He was always a happy kid. You would never expect this would happen. It’s terrible, but you’ve just got to keep your head up and live each day by day and just give it your best.”
The Arcs, with the Kornet family’s blessing, played five days after Alec’s death in a Kent District game against Lake Catholic. As a show of support, several players and coaches from around Greater Cleveland made the trek to Kent on Brush’s behalf.
“That state game, it just showed how many people really were there for us,” Miller said. “There were so many. They sent flowers. Everything was just great.”
After the season, Grushcow admitted how tough it would be to return to the Pavilion, especially the south rink where the Arcs typically reside. That day came, and more have since to aid in the healing.
“On my way to the school, I was like, ‘You know what? It’s a fresh season,’ ” Grushcow said of the first day of summer ice. “I work right down the road, so I’m driving up Mayfield, I stopped at the cemetery and then stopped here. That was the first time I was back at this rink since the end of last season.
“Just trying to get a fresh start with a relatively new group. It’s a process where you just try to find the positives and the bright spots and you focus on that. It’s obviously something that you dread these situations. But there’s always things to learn from in life, and that’s all you can do is keep moving forward, learning the lessons and applying them.”
What Brush has learned in the last 292 days in part is it has a lot of backup.
The Arcs’ game Dec. 3 was moved to the Pavilion’s larger north rink to accommodate the crowd. With the banner carrying Alec’s now-retired No. 4 temporarily affixed behind its bench, Brush stood on its goal line as a tribute to Alec was read and a moment of silence was held.
The banner — which in addition to Alec’s No. 4 features “In Our Hearts Forever” across the bottom with an Arcs logo — will join Matt Shlonsky’s No. 5 on the south rink wall.
Dec. 3 was not the Arcs’ night on the scoreboard, as the Hurricanes notched a two-period mercy-rule win.
But, as it has been throughout its underdog history, the effort Brush gave was admirable.
It was a day the Arcs knew was coming — and they also know, as they proceed, they won’t be alone.
The Greater Cleveland high school hockey community won’t let them be — and from his vantage point, neither will Alec Kornet.
“The outpouring was immediate, and it’s like this tidal wave, just absolute immense support — which goes away,” Grushcow said. “And you’re kind of in this lull where you know what happened, and you’re still kind of living it. And for everybody else, it’s back to their day to day.
“So it’s nice to see that, even after (10 ½ months), people are still feeling it and still there and still wanting to show support. I know the family appreciates it. I do, too. And the team appreciates it.”
For more on Brush, read Chris Lillstrung’s column Dec. 5 online and in the Dec. 6 print edition.