Dartmouth Hockey and Caleb Nelson: A Brotherhood

Hockey has a reputation. The sport is rough, unforgiving to its players' front teeth, and emblematized by the rugged enforcers who patrol the rink.

But while all eyes remain glued to the glass for broken noses and body checks, an untold and all-together different story for Dartmouth's own hockey team has unfolded off the ice since the addition of the team's 30th man—Caleb Nelson—in the midst of the 2012-13 season.

The connection between Dartmouth and the Nelsons began when then-captain Mike Keenan '13 was contacted by a Dartmouth women's lacrosse player, Casey Griffin '13, who was acting on behalf of Team Impact — a Massachusetts-based program that matches children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses to collegiate athletic teams to use sports to foster understanding and provide support 'on and off the field.'

“Right away I thought it was a great idea,” Keenan said. “Once the idea got brought to me I was pushing to make sure it happened because I thought it was a great opportunity for both he and our team, too.”

Caleb was matched with Team Impact after being a Make-a-Wish ambassador previously. He was born with a gene deletion and never developed the autonomic breathing function, necessitating pacemakers in his diaphragm, a trach affixed to his trachea at all times, and a ventilator at night. The trach and pacemakers have to be covered when he plays baseball and basketball to protect him from unanticipated contact.

Caleb was drafted by the Big Green in January of 2013 and entered the locker room for the first time, a little timid, at least half a foot shorter than every other player but greeted by his own locker, skates, nameplate and jersey, outfitted with his favorite number: 34. As an avid basketball fan (especially the Celtics and Paul Pierce), Caleb recalled his first days on the roster of a completely new sport as a growing period.

“When I came on the team, I didn't really like hockey,” he said. “But then as my first season came forward, I started watching clips and videos and learned more from the guys. After that I started skating and shooting the puck.”

Caleb has been accepted and treated as a part of the team as a whole, though several players including Keenan and 2013-14 alternate captain Taylor Boldt '14, identified by Caleb as his closest friend from Dartmouth, have taken extra steps to get close to him. As his best friends graduate and leave the Big Green, Caleb finds friends among younger players like Brad Schierhorn '16 and Ryan Bullock '16. Caleb taught Schierhorn to Facetime and Bullock to milk a cow, he said. Caleb, the ninth generation to live on his family's dairy farm, saw the class of 2016 – the class with which he shared his rookie season — several times over their just passed sophomore summer.

“We didn't know him very well at the beginning, but he's just kind of blossomed,” Schierhorn said. “We have a room where he can shoot some pucks. He's trying to learn hockey a little bit so we do that with him. His stall in the locker room is actually right next to mine so whenever he comes in after practice or even sometimes in between periods during a game we'll talk to him.”

Over summer, Caleb spent two weeks in the hospital with an infection. Head coach Bob Gaudet, one of his biggest supporters, arrived to his room with his favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and stayed with him until 10 p.m., watching him play one of his new favorite video games, NHL 14. Gaudet shows his support for Caleb, Bullock said, no matter what situation the team is in.

“On a game day he'll come down and maybe bring a buddy which I think is also really cool that does that,” he said. “I know if I was a young kid and had this situation I'd love to bring friends and show it off a little bit. It's really cool he can do that. Our coach almost prioritizes him over what he has to do before the game. He'll walk into the locker room during a speech and he'll say, 'Hey, Caleb. Come on in.'”

Since the start of the term, the team's lockers have been shuffled around, putting him next to two freshmen—Carl Hesler '18 and Corey Kalk '18. Meeting new people season after season was difficult for Caleb at first, who originally wasn't comfortable enough to be in the locker room without his mom, Heather, waiting outside. The ability to go up to new players and introduce himself or go off with teammates and get frozen yogurt while his mom sits out of sight is now becoming almost second-nature. Heather credits his newfound confidence to being on the team.

“They've just been all-around supportive,” she said. “The neat thing is it just isn't about hockey. It's a brotherhood that Caleb will never experience anywhere else. He sees what it takes to be on this hockey team. You know, he'll never be able to do that himself, so this has opened up a huge opportunity for him to be a part of something that just isn't in his reach. And now it is because of these guys. It gives him a chance to forget about, 'I'm having IV treatments tomorrow.' I say, 'Why don't we go down and see the guys and tomorrow you can start your treatments and when you're done the guys will be there again.' He is their biggest fan. I don't mean just a fanatic. He believes in every one of those boys.”

But the relationship isn't one way. When he lines up with the team, shows up to practice ready to motivate the players, supports the 29 other players through their wins and their losses, Caleb gives something to Dartmouth. He leaves, Gaudet said, a sense of perspective with the players when he goes home from the rink.

“I think there's a level of thankfulness and appreciation of what you have and humility,” he said. “Our guys have a team that they're really lucky to have and go to Dartmouth and play Division I athletics, and we have this guy who wants to be part of something. That understanding and sense of giving means the guys should have an attitude of gratitude for what they have.”

Though not the only Team Impact player at Dartmouth, Caleb has certainly become one of the greatest success stories of the Big Green's involvement with the program, despite the sport itself constantly being scrutinized for its relentless and grueling on-ice action. His acclimation to the team and its players, tethered by players like Jack Barre '16 who has watched Caleb show his own personal calf, Josh Hartley '16 who texts him every day just to say 'hi', Matt Lindblad '14 who taught him how to ice skate and Cab Morris '14 who spent the night with him in the hospital after he got sick on the bus ride home, speaks to a different reputation off the rink.

It speaks to the side of hockey that is constantly reaching out to kids who would benefit from the positive impact of sports. It speaks to players like Keenan who link-up with Team Impact or Lee Stempniak '05 who didn't send an autograph to a young fan whose mom had recently passed away due to cancer, but instead brought him out to a game, gave him the best seats in the house, and took him into the locker room after the final buzzer. These are the memories kids take from the hockey rink.

“When young kids emulate their heroes, you'd like them to be world leaders, but a lot of times they're athletes,” Gaudet said. “And hockey players in general are just great guys. Maybe I'm biased, but I hear it from people all the time.”

Whatever it is, it's an undeniable truth that it's inseparable from the sport itself, the men who play it, and team the suits up in the Green and White.

- Gayne A. Kalustian '17

Caleb on his first day with the team in 2013.

Caleb at a team gathering in Smoyer Lounge.

Nelson is in the top row on the right side in this year's team photo.

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