Dennis re-discovers an old video clip of his very own ‘NJ Superstar’

The video in this story is very short but the build up to it seemed endless. I can't believe it was almost 20 years ago.

This hockey season, I've written twice about Jackson New Jersey's own Anthony Stolarz. He's the young hockey goalie who made his NHL debut this season with the Philadelphia Flyers and won both games he started. It was with great joy that I shared the story with you, having met his mom and knowing how proud he made his family, friends, old teammates and all hockey fans in New Jersey.

This weekend, my son Greg was in town for a wedding. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina now with his beautiful wife Ashley. They're both big hockey fans. We spent precious little time with both of them this weekend and Sunday morning they headed back home.

That afternoon I watched the NHL All Star skills competition, something I would always do with Greg since he was a little hockey star here in South Jersey. As I watched, the son of one of the NHL All Stars (Ryan Kesler) got to shoot on one of the goalies and scored. Of course it was set up that way, but the kid made it look amazing.

It brought a tear to my eye remembering when my Greg competed in a skills competition at a Flyers game almost 20 years ago. He was two years younger than all of his competition and won all three rounds that year to bring home first place for his rink and his teammates.

I texted him about this kid on Sunday and he texted me back a clip of that moment which I hadn't seen since 1998. He's 29 now and took a different path from what his 10 year old aspirations were of being a pro hockey player. I have no doubt he had the talent to do it. Even other parents would stay late or come early to watch him play.

Although he's not an NHL superstar, he's all that and more to me. A more hard working, polite, friendly and decent young man would be hard to find. My proudest moments in life have been when someone tells me they met him or his brother or sister and tell me what nice, impressive young people they are.

I know I'm being a typical overly proud papa here, but I also know how lucky I am to have them in my life no matter how far away they are.

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