January 27, 1999
Marsh pays tribute to Sincic
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
Mike Sincic didn't score a last-second goal. He didn't make a stacked pad save. Nor did he make a great pass, tally an assist or create a game-winning turnover at the blue line. Instead, the 16-year-old Acme Township resident provided the Bill Marsh Motors hockey team with something not found on a stat sheet - inspiration.
For members of this Grand Traverse Hockey Association Bantam Division team, dedicating last week's six-team tournament in Bruce Mines, Ont. to the St. Francis High School junior proved an emotional catalyst inextinguishable by even a two goal deficit.
The older brother of teammate Nick Sincic, the former hockey player was diagnosed with a brain tumor 3 1/2 years ago and given a grim prognosis. Surgery performed by a neurological specialist in New York removed the growth and gave the young boy a second-chance. Last Tuesday, however, Sincic was once again back in New York fighting the odds and a growing tumor on his optic nerve.
While the team sent along a get- well card, coach Mike Kelly said his players took it upon themselves to dedicate the tournament in Sincic's honor.
"We had a good long talk with the players before the game about their lives and what Mike has gone through and yet how he keeps a positive attitude," Kelly said. "The kids got pretty excited about playing the tournament for Mike. They really elevated their play - they wanted to win for him."
Desire drove the Bill Marsh team past its first four opponents, outscoring them 10-2, 3-1, 2-1 and 1-0. In the finals, however, it seemed emotions might not be enough to overcome a 3-1 stranglehold by the Canadian Esso Tiger team.
"We went back to the locker room before the third period and everyone agreed that we didn't want to get this far and not win, that was not the way they wanted it to end," Kelly noted.
Recharged and recommitted, the Traverse City travel squad stepped out on the freshly Zambonied ice and dominated from the drop of the puck. Outshooting the Tigers 19 to 2, the Bill Marsh team stormed back with three unanswered goals. The winner crossing the goal line with only 24 ticks left on the clock.
While team effort earned the victory for Sincic, individual playmakers stepped forward to show the Central High School hockey manager a token of appreciation.
In a show of sportsmanship, Paul Salvatore chose to give his hat trick pin from game one against Bruce Mines to Sincic. Goalie Paul Stowe, who registered a shutout against the Towland Wolves, also decided to give his pin to Sincic, said coach Kelly. As a final team tribute, the puck from the championship game will be given to Sincic when he returns to Traverse City this week.
For Denise and Steve Sincic, the team's unexpected gesture gave an emotional lift to what has been agonizing months of CT scans and MRI tests culminating with an intensive neurosurgery last Tuesday.
"It brings tears to your eyes knowing that there are people out there backing you up," said the Acme Township resident during a phone conversation Friday from the family's hotel room in New York.
Although his eyes have yet to heal from surgery, doctors and Sincic's family remain "very optimistic" that he will regain some of the vision that began deteriorating last summer. Perhaps enough to enable him to pursue his passions for watching hockey and painting landscape and portrait watercolors.
And while last week's hockey tournament will undoubtedly benefit the Bill Marsh Motors' win/loss percentage, the victory went beyond stat sheets and hat trick pins.
"When coach Kelly told him what the team had done he had a big smile on his face," said Denise, whose husband is an assistant coach with the Bantam team. "We haven't seen that smile in a while, he was just beaming."