As awful as it is to admit this, sometimes the Senior Day stuff gets repetitive.
During Saturday afternoon's Senior Day festivities prior to the Norwich University men's hockey game, I was privileged to witness perhaps the most touching moment in my experience covering Senior Days.
Paula Gills, who sings the Canadian and U.S. national anthems for Norwich athletics, was asked to sing at Fenway Park for the Cadets' Frozen Fenway game against Babson back on Jan. 13. Linda Freeman wrote an excellent piece about Gills' experience singing in Boston and Kevin Hartmann took an amazing photo of her during one of the anthems. But on Saturday, she did something special for one graduating Norwich hockey senior, also before a game agaisnt Babson.
Pasha Kozhokin, a defenseman for the Cadets, hails from Kharkiv, Ukraine, though he played junior hockey in Boston and went to the Canterbury School in Connecticut. While the five other seniors had family share in the introductions with them, Kozhokin's parents were unable to be there. His girlfriend stepped in, however, which I imagine was a big moment for both of them.
The Canadian and U.S. anthems are sung at Norwich because, I assume, of the number of Canadian players both on the Cadet rosters and on many of the opposing team's rosters.
But on Saturday, Gills sang the anthem of Ukraine first. She said to the crowd of more than 1,500 at Kreitzberg Arena that because his family was unable to be with him from the Ukraine, she and Norwich were bringing the Ukraine to him. Holding the lyrics to the anthem, Gills sang the beautiful piece - in Ukranian - as if she'd sung it at every game. No one could tell she had spent hours watching a YouTube video of the anthem being sung for Ukranian heavyweight champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko (here it is, with English translation) (and here's the Klitschko version) and had practiced by writing the words out phonetically. There was a Ukrainian flag hung on the railing below the Canadian, U.S. and Vermont flags on the near side of the arena, and it remained there for the entire game (Norwich tied Babson 4-4).
It was a special moment for Kozhokin, Gills, and everyone there to take it in. Bravo to Gills and Norwich for orchestrating the whole thing. Bravo.
-Anna Grearson
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