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Merrimack hockey player saves hoop player
from choking to death
Merrimack College senior Mike Nugent didn't have time to enjoy lunch. It was only 11:15 a.m.
He was sitting alone. And class started in about 15 minutes.
Nugent, a 6-foot-10 center on the basketball team, remembered his mouth being very dry.
"It was early. There was hardly anybody in the cafeteria," recalled Nugent, of Plaistow, N.H. "I
only got a sandwich because I was in a hurry. I took just one bite. That's all. It wouldn't go all the
way down."
Within a few seconds he started to pound his chest. When nothing happened, panic set in.
Nugent bolted from his seat and sprinted toward the kitchen.
"I couldn't breathe. And I couldn't talk either," explained Nugent. "I figured the lunch ladies
would know what to do."
Of course they did. They called for help.
"I was in line, waiting for my lunch," remembered Steve McKenna, a sophomore defenseman on
the Merrimack hockey team, one of only a handful of students in the cafeteria. "I saw Mike, who I know pretty well, run into the kitchen," McKenna said. "I knew something
was wrong, and I heard them calling for help. So I ran back there."
McKenna did what his mother, Registered Nurse Shirley McKenna, showed all her children to
do under the same circumstance.
He calmly grabbed Nugent from behind, as if he were a wrestler. Then he made a fist with one
hand, and put his free hand over the fist. And he tugged twice under Nugent's rib cage.
The gob of bread spewed out like a gun shot.
A life was saved.
"It may not have seemed like I was scared, but I was," said McKenna. "I was scared when I saw
him run by. I was scared while I was giving him the Heimlich (maneuver). And I was scared
afterward, too." Like a true hero, McKenna didn't hang around to be patted on the back. In fact, after making sure
Nugent was OK, he went back to the cafeteria and then ate his lunch.
It has been two weeks since, and a few of McKenna's friends found out about it yesterday. He
did call his mother the next day, though. "She was happy," said McKenna.
Nugent feels lucky. Not only was McKenna trained by a nurse who happens to be his mom, but
he was one of only a handful of people on the Merrimack campus big enough, at 6-foot-8 (Yes,
he's a hockey player), to handle him physically.
"If he wasn't there, I'd probably be dead," said Nugent. "Steve saved my life."
Nugent caught up with McKenna several hours after the incident and told him the same thing.
"He came up to me in the locker room later that day and thanked me for saving his life," said
McKenna. "It kind of throws you when somebody says that to you. It still does when I think
about it."
Nugent says eating since the incident has been a bit of a chore. He chews his food incessantly.
And he eats with a friend.
Nugent and McKenna ran into each other again last night at the Volpe Complex. Besides
exchanging high fives, they didn't say too much. They didn't have to.
"It's sort of weird," said McKenna. "I see him now and I think, 'Wow! It's great to see
him...Alive.'"
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Merrimack players certainly look up to co-captain Steve McKenna.
Merrimack players certainly look up to co-captain Steve McKenna.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
McKenna stands 6 feet, 8 inches - and that's before he laces up his skates. Believed to be the
tallest player in college hockey, the junior defenseman can do more than provide a big obstacle
for opposing forwards. He's an influence on and off the ice.
And, yes, he hopes to lead the Warriors to new heights.
"It gets me a lot of second looks," McKenna said of his physical stature. "It's tough to hide, that's
what I find. If I do something, it's always more noticeable. It's something I've grown accustom to.
Because of my size, I always stand out."
He said he has filled out to 235 pounds and hopes to add bulk if a professional career is in his
future. And it should be no surprise that he normally enjoys the contact aspect of hockey.
Even so, McKenna is often the target. Opposing players like nothing better than to put a good
check on Merrimack's giant - something that tends to send the home fans into a frenzy if
Merrimack is visiting for the evening. It must be a macho thing.
"Everyone wants to take out the big guy on the other team and naturally that's me," he said.
"Everybody tries to run you over. There are guys who start out at the other end of the ice and are
coming at you. So what? It's a body check. I'm human.
"It stands out more if I'm lying on the ice and not him. The thing is, I'm going to get up and hit
him twice as hard. That's part of the game. I don't shy away from it. I like it. With the size, it
can't hurt me. It can only help."
McKenna often takes the brunt of heckles from the crowd. He can't avoid the attention. That's the way it was during his pre-college days in Hespeler, Ontario. He had hockey and
basketball coaches vying for his services.
"At an early age, my mom and dad had me out on the ice," he said. "I didn't pick up a basketball
until high school. The basketball coach was drooling. Then I was playing ball and hockey at the
same time."
He had to make a choice. The decision came when he bypassed his final high school year for a
stint in junior hockey.
"It came naturally to go to hockey," he said. "It's the natural thing to do in Canada."
Still, the perceived relationship with basketball won't dissipate - as part of a team videotape
package a year ago, McKenna and 6-5 junior John Jakopin shot a little hoop with the Merrimack
basketball team.
McKenna and Jakopin, also a defenseman, give the hockey Warriors a "twin towers" look.
"We get more calls from the stands about basketball than about hockey," McKenna said. "You
get used to it."
Merrimack coach Ron Anderson, who said he has coached two other players standing 6-4 or
taller during his tenure with the Warriors, referred to McKenna as a disciplined defenseman.And he puts his size to good use.
"As far as I'm concerned, he does," Anderson said. "I can't think of a reason why it would be (a
hindrance). He knows his strength is in the defensive play and that's what he has to emphasize."
McKenna, 22, understands his role. He knows he'll be going up against smaller players. It
appears he has made appropriate adjustments.
The Warriors, who have been rather unproductive on offense during the opening weeks of the
season, are relying on a solid defense. McKenna is a key contributor on special teams, too.
"I've been playing pretty steady," he said. "I'm not going to be the light-it-up kind of player. I'm
going to be the lunch box-type of player."
McKenna, who has never missed a game since showing up on the Merrimack campus, said he
hopes he has gained teammates' respect for reasons other than his size.
"It's a role I take with a lot of pride," he said. "It's something I've taken in stride."
Anderson said McKenna was an ideal selection as captain. The team is junior-dominated.
"He demonstrated over his freshman and sophomore years to be a good on-ice and off-ice
leader," the coach said. "He has gotten there because of what he has done on the ice."
The troubling start to the season perplexed the Warriors. They thought they would break into the
upper half in Hockey East this season. It's early, but it's not making sense to McKenna.
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Theres a pic of him at Merrimack. |
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McKenna signs NHL contract with Kings
Like magic, it took only 24 hours for Los Angeles to supplant one 6-foot-8 250 pounder with
another 6-foot-8 250 pounder.
Merrimack College junior Steve McKenna, the biggest player in Div. 1 college hockey, signed a
two-year deal with the L.A. Kings for "at least" six figures each season, according to estimates.
All of it is guaranteed.
McKenna, 23, has been courted by several NHL teams since the season ended two months ago.
He not only is big and strong, but he has come so far in such a short time.
"I'm in disbelief," said McKenna, who was one of only a handful of Merrimack juniors to
become captain. "It was different when I was talking on the phone with these (teams). But after
you've signed the paper...wow! I'm stunned."
The Kings told McKenna he won't be rushed. He may spend some time in Phoenix, the home of
the Kings minor league team, before getting the call to report to the famed Forum. While being drafted is a boost to the ego, it turned out being a blessing that NHL teams saw
McKenna as a lumbering lug on skates five years ago in junior hockey in Ontario.
As a free agent, he got an inside look at capitalism at work.
"I had teams bidding for me. It was great," said McKenna, about the past four weeks. "Otherwise
I wouldn't have had any choices. I would have taken what they offered me."
Philadelphia and the New York Rangers were two teams that showed the most interest. The
Kings waited patiently until the final offers were in. And then they scooped McKenna.
Los Angeles' gain is Merrimack's loss, which explained coach Ron Anderson's bittersweet mood.
It marks the third Merrimack defenseman in two years to sign a professional contract. That's the
bad news, too. That's a lot to lose.
"I'm so happy for Steve. He has so much character. I never had to worry about Steve on or off the
ice," says Anderson. "As a player, he was our best player. You could always count on him. We'll
never be able to fill his shoes."
McKenna says telling Anderson yesterday that the deal was signed and delivered was tougher
than committing to a new, strange world of pro sports. "I owe so much to coach Anderson, (athletic director) Bob DeGregorio, and everyone at
Merrimack," says McKenna. "They gave me a chance when nobody else would. They believed in
me. They had a role in making this (NHL signing) happen.
McKenna says he will finish his two remaining semesters at Merrimack. He is too proud of that
3.5 grade point average.
One regret is that McKenna wasn't able to save Merrimack hockey from the Hockey East cellar.
But it wasn't without trying. When coach Anderson talked about some players not showing up
several games last season, he was not talking about McKenna.
McKenna's eyes welled up at a Merrimack basketball game in March when it became official
that UMass-Amherst got the final playoff berth.
"I really wanted to win. I gave everything I had," says McKenna. His shining moment on the
Merrimack campus, though, had nothing to do with hockey. It occurred in the school cafeteria
when 6-foot-10 basketball player Mike Nugent, of Atkinson, N.H., began choking on his food.
McKenna acted fast, performing the Heimlich Maneuver to perfection, saving Nugent's life.
McKenna was not only big enough to handle Nugent, but he had a mother who was a nurse and
she taught him many life-saving techniques. I'll always remember that," says McKenna, of his heroic deed. "Maybe some day, I'll be walking
down Mass. Ave. in Boston and see Mike coming the other way. I'll say, 'Hey, remember me?'"
Of course he would.
Nobody could miss McKenna at Merrimack. He was a giant...on and off the ice.
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He played well here |
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Other things found on Big mac
Gill, a 6-foot, 182-pounder, got into a first-period melee with McKenna, who is listed at 6-8 and
247 pounds. That's larger than some NBA power forwards.
McKenna and Gill were entangled along the boards before McKenna unleashed two hard rights
that made the crowd groan.
We arrived late, so Storr had left, but McKenna was still there, and he signed a puck for Luc, and
every other kid who showed up. He was easy-going and witty, and he told The Signal's reporter
he enjoyed giving back to the community: Kings Night is a fund-raiser for the Michael Hoefflin
Foundation, named for the local boy who was just 10 when he died of cancer in 1996.
Knowing my son handed that puck to McKenna, and that the pro hockey player signed it for him
with a smile and handed it back to him in person, well, that means something. There's a story
that goes with the memorabilia
missed six games with a retinal tear in his left eye, suffered on Oct. 4 at St. Louis
Steve McKenna
Steve signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings on May 17, 1996. He made his
debut with the Kings in 1996-97, seeing action in nine games. In 1997-98, he played in 62
games, scoring four goals and contributing four assists for eight points. In 1998-99, Steve
scored one goal in 20 games. In 1999-2000, the left winger had five assists in 46 games
with Los Ageles. On June 23, 2000, Steve was selected by the Wild in the Expansion Draft.
After 20 games with the Wild, Steve was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 13
for Roman Simicek.
Steve suited up with the Cambridge Hawks of the OJHL-B in 1991-92, scoring 21 goals and
finishing the year with 44 points in 48 games. In 1992-93, Steve played with Notre Dame
of the SJHL. Steve then played three seasons with Merrimack of Hockey East before turning
professional. From 1993-96, he scored five goals and 22 assists in 107 games. In 1995-96,
he scored career-bests with three goals, 11 assists, and 14 points. He has also played with
Phoenix of the IHL and Fredericton of the AHL.
Steve had some interesting jobs while growing up in Hespeler, Ontario. "I used to work in a
pro shop at a golf course for a little while. My younger brother actually worked outside as a
greenskeeper. I sanded bowling lanes and a bunch of odd jobs. I fertilized lawns for a
couple of years - lots of odds and ends."
THIS SAID BYE AN ANGREY FAN HA HA HA
My very first update! OK, the first thing I'll say is that I am truly annoyed about the game in
which the Ducks played against the Kings and everything got a little messy. Therefore, I'm going
to take this opportunity to slag off Steve McKenna from the L.A. Kings. What a complete and
utter low life. How dare he pick a fight with the god!!! >:o(( *grr* Complete losers. I have come
to the conclusion that Detroit may not be my most hated team afterall.
I will stop myself using bad language for the moment as I wouldn't want to upsept readers with
my constant cursing, but basically you get the picture - My personal message to Steve McKenna
- you're a complete low life, nit wit and all round prat to put it lightly and my only hope is that
Jason takes every available opportunity he can to kick your ass in December............this guy was so upset that McKenna beet the fuckin piss out of jason....ps the pics are in the pics page
The linesmen had just broken up a fight, instigated by Steve McKenna of the Los Angeles Kings
before Edmonton Oiler heavyweight Georges Laraque was able to get in a punch
The nastiness started in the warmup when Montreal's Scott Thornton and L.A.'s hulking Steve
McKenna exchanged words after Canadiens captain Shayne Corson and Kings winger Len Barrie
bumped together. The two teams gathered at centre ice and Thornton and McKenna shoved back
and forth. Kings defenceman Garry Galley helped get things under control and the warmup
concluded without further incident.
The game was a different matter.
After Cummins and McKenna fought, McKenna and Thornton got double roughing minors at
10:49 of the first
Both left the bench at the earliest opportunity, and Boughner ended up being the one who traded
punches with Souray, reinforcing the notion that anyone who tries to manhandle Lemieux will
have to pay a price.
"If someone goes after Mario, you have to get in there," Boughner said. "I saw [McKenna] sort of
back off because Souray really didn't want to do it, and I was anxious to get my first [fight] in. I
haven't fought since I've been back [from a broken hand]."
I think we frustrate them, but we do that to a lot of clubs," Minnesota winger Steve McKenna
said. "We had a game in Colorado where their fans were booing them. Earlier in the year, we
couldn't finish our chances, but lately, we're putting it in behind the goalie and that's the key to
our game."
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Doing what he dose best giving back to the cammunity |
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