MITCHELL MILLOWITZ:  MHL COMMISSIONER:

RIP Steve Gardella 

Everyone affiliated with the MHL knows that I’m anal perhaps to some extent dictatorial. In any event this past Sunday I unassumingly had a discussion with my wife Sheree, the official MHL scorer for MHL events, on the high number of friends and family who have foolishly perished riding motorcycles. On Monday I spoke to the former captain of Steve Gardella’s Over 40 team who requested entrance to the Ice Den’s Over 50 league which I oversee.

On Tuesday as part of my daily routine I read the Sun Sentinel prior to starting my day. One of their captions was “Weston couple dies in motorcycle accident”. I don’t normally read these type of articles but I read this one and the name of the rider was Steve Gardella. It did not give much more information, so much like several years ago when my daughter got a call from her best friend crying that her father (a former Florida Panther) was suspected dead in a Russian plane crash and another close friend several years later telling her after the Stoneman Douglas massacre that her brother had not returned home (and turned out to be one of the murdered children), I pushed this situation off figuring this could not be my bro,

I was wrong. By mid afternoon it turned out that Steve was the JetBlue pilot I knew (and the hockey bud who played in our Over 50 league and MHL) and the revised Sun-Sentinel article included photos which were clearly him.

Steve played with me and other MHLers in the Over 50 league. Although he wanted to play in several MHL 4 on 4 and MHL 5 on 5 events his job as a pilot at JetBlue interfered with being able to plan a couple of months in advance. Playing in many MHL events but nonetheless played in our Easter 2019 event with Robbie Mark’s team. 

Steve was a great guy. He might have seemed a little aloof to some but I loved his demeanor. A little macho and a little quirky but in the hockey world this is the norm. For those of us that wonder why there was no MHL Hockey dinner or Friday night interaction with him there were a few reasons, ranging from gluten/wheat issues to some personal events that he needed to deal with.

I loved this guy. I hate to deal with cliches but RIP Steve my friend - a great guy. I am sick to my stomach and many of you have echoed the same.

The Commissioner