Harry Duvall has seen a lot of hockey games in his 88 years. A lot of them were with his wife, Jeanette, who shared his love of the game. She was even inducted into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame for her role leading a youth hockey program.
The pair were married 66 years, including an 18-year stretch where they went to every NCAA hockey tournament Frozen Four together.
When Jeanette passed away in December, two of their granddaughters decided to give him a special Christmas present during a difficult time. So they got him tickets to the Hockey East Championship.
Little did they know at Christmas time that the University of Maine Black Bears team that he loves to watch would not only make it to that conference championship game, but win it.
“So we just bought the tickets knowing that he loves college hockey,” Kayla Rose explained.
Duvall reveled in the and the turnout from UMaine fans in Boston. He described how strangers were high-fiving and hugging as the Black Bears worked to secure their first conference championship since 2004.
“I was overwhelmed,” Duvall said. “I called it, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that called it Alfond South. Because it was deafening.”
Both Kayla and Amber Rose grew up in Falmouth and played hockey at North Yarmouth Academy, and now live in Boston. Their grandparents raised a family in Needham, Massachusetts, though Duvall now lives in Falmouth. He played college hockey for two years at Clarkson University in New York, and coached hockey for 40 years in Needham.
“My grandfather is definitely the one who has carried on the torch of, we’re a hockey family,” Kayla Rose explained, “Because his passion for it was infectious.”
That infectious passion was certainly on display in a viral video that Rose posted of her grandfather from the Hockey East final — a video that got the attention of social media accounts from NESN, ESPN and Hockey East, and has led to an outpouring of support and enjoyment online.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Duvall said about the attention and excitement around the video.
“I just can’t fathom it, I can’t believe it,” Duvall said about the outpouring. Though he’s no stranger to using computers, he’s “not into all the social media.”
He said the trip to the title game “came at the right time” after such a challenging period with his wife’s illness and death.
“It meant the world to me,” he said about his granddaughters getting the tickets, and said his wife would have been beside herself at the thought of the three of them sharing that experience together.
“Oh god, did she love hockey,” an understandably emotional Duvall said about his wife.
His granddaughters delivered the perfect present at a much-needed time, and the UMaine hockey team delivered a conference championship right on cue for the family.
Duvall has deep ties to Maine that go well beyond his recent move to Falmouth. His family used to travel up to Robbinston every summer growing up, they’ve had a camp on Vinalhaven for decades, and he got to know the Maine coast very well from Eastport to Portland while in the Coast Guard.
His brother Howie has UMaine hockey season tickets and lives in Robbinston, making an impressive drive on the road known as the Airline to see the games in Orono.
“I love the Maine people, I always have,” said Duvall.
And he loves watching this UMaine hockey team, too.
“They never quit. They’ve got a great attitude,” Duvall said about the Hockey East champions, emphasizing how they came back to win the semifinal game against Northeastern University in double overtime the night before the final. That never-quit attitude was something he used to emphasize as a coach.
He called head coach Ben Barr “a catch” for the program and said that Black Bear fans “are all very special in my heart.”
“I wouldn’t count them out this year,” he said about the team’s chances heading into the NCAA tournament.
Last Friday was clearly a meaningful night for Duvall, and his granddaughters, after the loss of his wife.
“We just got lucky that his favorite team ended up winning it all,” Kayla Rose said. “It was a lot of fun to be able to witness, and it was definitely a memorable night.”
Duvall called the experience “good tonic for me” after such a difficult time losing his wife, who watched so many games together with him over the years.
A reporter suggested that she was still there with them in spirit on Friday night for UMaine’s win.
“Well, I think you’re right,” Duvall responded. “She had something to do with it.”