The Sault Senior Men’s Hockey League held its second annual Christmas Classic Saturday at the John Rhodes Community Centre on a heartwarming note. The game marked the return of longtime league member Gerri Longo. “Five years ago he got cancer and his love is hockey.
His whole family is about hockey. They coach hockey. He was in this league for 18 years and today he’s back playing again for the first time in six years.
It’s an amazing story,” said Joe Della-Savia, SSMHL player and spokesperson. “I’m okay. I’m happy to be on this side of the turf.
I’ve still got some issues so I’ve got to be careful. When I get the puck these guys will move aside for me,” Longo told SooToday with a grin. In an extra nice touch, Longo’s team won Saturday’s game 2-1 in a shootout, Longo himself scoring the deciding goal.
“We’ve been playing together for over 25 years. We’re like a group of brothers. When I was sick they put on a benefit for me in February 2020.
It was amazing the amount of work they put into it for me,” Longo said. Longo is a retiree who worked for Mio's Furniture Fashions while Della-Savia is the owner/operator of Inside Out Contracting. The Sault Senior Men’s Hockey League has been around for approximately 40 years.
“We were once a 35 and over league, then we went to a 45 and over and last year we started an over 60 division. That move brought back at least 50 players who had retired or aged out. Now we have a solid division of four teams o.
