March 18, 2008

By Jonah Schuman

Special to USAHockey.com

In their second tournament of the season, Scott Matheson, coach of the San Jose Sharks 12 & Under team, vividly remembers a first-period moment in a game against the Colorado Selects.

The Sharks had come out very strong, and the majority of the opening frame was spent in the Selects’ zone.

“Up to that point it was the best period of hockey we’d played all season,” Matheson said. “The other team took a penalty and all of a sudden [forward] Abby Leslie broke out into what she called ‘the power play dance.’”

Matheson likened Leslie’s dance to something Michael Jackson would do, and said the image of Leslie smiling as she was dancing with her linemates will always stick out in his mind.

“She probably has the biggest smile I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said. “On the ice, in the locker room and when she’s standing in line doing drills, she was always beaming and having fun.”

Sadly, that smile has been absent from the Sharks since December.

Leslie is currently under home hospice care, suffering from an aggressive form of cancer. The cancer has spread so rapidly that she is no longer receiving treatment.

Leslie’s teammates had a lot of trouble coping with the news of Abby’s illness, but found one of the best ways to deal with the emotion was on the hockey rink.

“Abby’s classmates or teammates from a previous year were on the team,” he said. “Those girls were much closer to Abby. They were confused. I think hockey was an outlet. The kids used it to rally around.”

The Sharks rode that emotion to the Pacific District championship game, where they fell to the Anaheim Lady Ducks.

Matheson thinks the team’s success can be credited, in part, to the grieving process.

“We had a meeting with a grief counselor about a week before we played in our regional tournament,” he said. “After the meeting, at the next practices and the next games, everyone seemed to pick up their intensity level. We started to really use Abby as our motivation.”

Leslie’s cancer was first detected after a trip to the doctor originally intended to look into a neck injury suffered during a practice in November.

“We were just doing a drill and two girls ran into each other,” Matheson said. “Abby got knocked down. She fell backwards and just kind of hit her head on the ground. She got up, shook it off and got back in line.”

Soreness in Leslie’s neck persisted for several weeks, and Matheson began to suspect it was more serious than just a sore neck. Finally, doctors confirmed that it was cancer.

Although this was the first season he has coached her, Matheson was affected personally by the news of Leslie’s diagnosis.

“I was devastated,” he said. “It caused me to take a step back and ask, ‘How could something like this possibly be happening?’ These parents have spent 11 years with their daughter, and potentially won’t have a twelfth.

“Abby didn’t know the last time she skated in a game would be her last game. She didn’t know at her last practice, it would be the last time she practiced. Those are tough things to walk away with.”

The Lady Ducks are planning to wear a patch with the logo of their cross-state rival Sharks, along with Leslie’s number, 96, at the National Championship in April.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.