USA Hockey Adult Hockey

With the amount of time they spend working together, often in 24-hour shifts, the members of the Bloomfield Township Fire Department get to know each other well.

But it’s the firefighters who compete on the department’s adult league hockey team that share an even tighter bond.

There are 65 members of the Bloomfield Township Fire Department (in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan), and nearly a quarter of them play on the team. All but about two players on the hockey team are firefighters.

“It’s a lot of fun. You get to kind of relax and take that aspect out of it and it just kind of helps build the camaraderie and the brotherhood of everything that we do together,” said team captain Joe McGrail, who is a fireman/paramedic. “Of course, it’s still beer league, so you go into battle together. It’s nice to just relax and kick back and enjoy being out there with those guys on a much more laid back scale.”

Kevin Cardinale, who has been on the team for 20 years, said playing with co-workers really builds camaraderie on the ice and in the fire station.

“There’s no doubt that it helps, because for one, we get to know each other and you learn things about each other that you don’t learn just at work or just playing hockey,” Cardinale said.

The Bloomfield Twp. Fire team has been around for nearly 25 years. For the first two decades, the team strictly played in tournaments — mostly charity events for fire and police departments — around North America. Five years ago, the department decided to start playing weekly and signed up with the Troy Adult Hockey League at the Troy Sports Center.

“We hired a lot of young guys,” McGrail said. “Before they were kind of just teaching other guys and they would go play these tournaments in Toronto or Orlando — just around the country.”

Bloomfield Twp. Fire plays in the eight-team B League, which runs on Sundays. With crazy working schedules, sometimes it’s tough to even field a team some weeks. The guys generally have rotating work shifts where they are on duty three Sundays in a row and then have the next six Sundays off.

“Our team is so different week to week, because somebody’s got to be at work,” McGrail said. “We’re spread out through all three shifts.”

“I would say it’s probably a disadvantage we have, but we’ve all done it our whole career,” said Cardinale, who is a captain on the fire department. “You just adjust to it.”

The hockey team was started by former fire captain Alex Mimikos. He retired last year from the department, but he still skates on the team. In his mid-50s, Mimikos is the oldest player. Cardinale is second in age at 44. The majority of the other guys are in their 30s, with the youngest player just 22.

McGrail – 31, who has played on the team for eight years — and Cardinale like having the younger blood on the team to go with a broad range of talent. The guys get along great on the ice and nobody is selfish and hogs the puck. It’s certainly a team effort, just like at the fire station.

That’s one reason Cardinale keeps returning to the team year after year.

“First of all, I love hockey. I have a passion for it, I have since I was a little kid,” Cardinale said. “My dad and brother both played. I love the camaraderie, hanging out with the guys. Obviously, we’re firefighters, so my job is based on teamwork. We rely on one another, and in hockey it’s the same thing. In order to be successful, you have to rely on other people. I find that I have a great time just hanging out with the guys. They’re good people, and it’s just fun.”

Bloomfield Twp. Fire still competes in about four tournaments per year along with the weekly league. The guys feel it’s important to play in the fundraising events for fire and police departments, usually heading to Orlando, Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

The guys on the hockey team take pride in playing for Bloomfield Twp. Fire. They want to represent their department to the best of their ability.

“Absolutely, it’s special,” Cardinale said. “But I would say, I know for myself, I think it’s just in our nature as firefighters. We live that persona every day, because it’s a career we need to be trusted, honor, integrity, all those kinds of things. And it’s a lifestyle, not just our career. Hopefully we carry that on when we play hockey. It helps us bond, so hopefully we display that when we play as well.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.