'With age comes wisdom': Senior hockey's Central Mass Rusty Blades continue to shine on ice

WORCESTER — It is not clear where the game of hockey fits into any modern medical definitions.

It is not a disease, that’s for sure. It is, however, for the most part incurable. The Central Mass Rusty Blades demonstrate on a weekly basis at Buffone Arena on Lake Avenue.

This may get them in legal trouble, but the Rusty Blades practice age discrimination. If you have not started getting emails from Social Security, you’re too young.

The next few days are big ones for the Rusty Blades. They are the host team for the Mass. Senior Games championship tournament with matches running through April 30. This year’s event includes something new — or is it old? It can be confusing.

In any case, the event has expanded to the point where there is now an 80s Division, and those skaters will play a Legends Exhbition at 2 p.m. Saturday. The event expanded, according to Tim Gagnon, because there are so many good 80-somethings out there.

“There are more guys who want to play on the tournament teams than there are spots for them,” said Gagnon, who is running the 80s event. “Rather than tell guys we didn’t have a spot for them on the 70s team, we thought we could get an 80s Division going.

“How do you tell an 85-year-old guy ‘We don’t have a spot on a team for you?’ Imagine playing hockey for seven decades and someone says, ‘We can’t use you this year.”

Gagnon is from Worcester. He was a goaltender for Sacred Heart Academy before that school closed, then moved on to St. Peter’s. The Rusty Blades include about five former goalies, none of whom play that position any more.

“I think we look at it as a chance to get some revenge,” Gagnon said.

One of those former goalies is Jim McCann, who has a place in the history books of the great Beanpot Tournament.

McCann was a backup goaltender at Boston University going into the 1967 Beanpot. He was pressed into service when No. 1 goalie Wayne Ryan was hurt during the Terriers victory over Harvard in the first-round game. Given the start against Northeastern in the finals, McCann made 30 saves and shut out the Huskies, 4-0, to deliver the Beanpot title to BU. It was just the second championship game shutout in tournament history.

Why would a goalie with that kind of résumé hang up the pads and blocker?

“With age,” McCann answered, “comes wisdom.”

Most of the Rusty Blades played high school hockey. Some played college hockey. They learned the game on lakes and ponds that no longer freeze over in the winter, or at historic old rinks like the Worcester Arena in Webster Square.

It is a Central Mass. group, although there are hundreds of players throughout New England who may have retired from their jobs, but have not retired from the game, playing for similar clubs

The oldest Rusty Blade at the moment is Dick Mitchell of Berlin, originally from Framingham. He is 86, but a young 86 with a March birthday. He has been playing hockey for more than 80 years. Lionel Bourgeois is older, but will miss the tournament with a stress fracture.

“There was a pond near my house in Framingham,” Mitchell recalled, “and my father took us down there. I was maybe four or five when I started. I’ve played in a lot of leagues through the years, but did take some time off.”

What has changed about the game in those eight decades?

“Well, I hurt the next day,” Mitchell said, “but I keep coming back. It’s still fun.”

Jay Lussier, who played on Auburn High’s state championship team in 1968, came out of retirement to join the Rusty Blades and discovered it was more than a leisurely way to spend some time at the rink.

“I hadn’t put a skate on for 20 years,” he said, “and I went to watch them play and thought to myself — boy, these guys are really slow. So then I got into a game and here I am falling on my skates five or six times, watching them go by me, and now I’m thinking — hey, these guys are really fast.”

The Rusty Blades’ schedule may not include any Beanpot events or high school state finals, but you had better show up ready to play.

“It’s pretty serious hockey,” Gagnon said. “I got whacked on a follow through on a shot from the point, and I had Billy Dunn — the physician out in Southbridge who was playing for the team in North Middlesex — suture me up in the locker room because I didn’t feel like going over to UMass.

“I wanted to be able to go out for a beer with everybody else.”

What about fights?

“No. There are no fights,” Rusty Blade Skip Burnett said. “Some times there are collisions that people take a little exception to, but there are no fights. We do have skirmishes, though. That’s what they are —skirmishes.”

The Rusty Blades were founded by longtime Telegram & Gazette reporter, the late Joe Capillo, decades ago. Covid set them back for a couple of years but in 2023 they are playing twice a week, 52 weeks a year. The group does not seem to be getting older as much as better.

“I don’t know how this 80s game will go,” Gagnon said, “but trust me, these guys are competitive. You never lose that.”

There are several lifetime sports, but golf, tennis and pickleball don’t require helmets, masks and shinguards and don’t lead to skirmishes. Even so, Burnett has this advice for his acquaintances.

“I tell my friends with sons and daughters — get them into hockey,” he said. “They’ll be playing it for the rest of their lives.”

And long lives, at that, as this week’s tournament at Buffone Arena will show.

—Contact Bill Ballou at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillBallouTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Senior hockey's Central Mass Rusty Blades continue to shine on ice