NHL dream comes true for team equipment manager
RALEIGH, N.C. -- It is one the least glamorous jobs in the National Hockey League: showing up before the players, washing away yesterday’s dirt and grime, picking up after those too talented to bother themselves.
And yet Carolina Hurricanes’ equipment manager Jorge Alves says there is nowhere else he’d rather be.
“If I had to sweep floors and clean trash and you know just to be around them, then I did that,” said Alves.
As a kid growing up outside Boston, Alves dreamed of being a goalie in the NHL. But he was the child of janitors, and goalie equipment was expensive.
“I knew my parents couldn’t afford it either so came across a tennis racket which happened to be my goalie stick and National Geographics strapped to my legs,” for pads, he said. “And that’s how it started.”
He eventually got on his high school team and, after a stint in the Marines, tried to make it in the minors - repeatedly.
He stopped chasing the dream only after he started chasing kids. Once Madison and Jaxon were born, Alves knew he needed a real job, and he’s been equipment manager ever since - until recently.
Last month, just a few hours before a game, Carolina’s backup goalie got sick. Now normally that’s not a problem, you just bring someone up from the minors. But this was so close to game time, the Hurricanes had no choice.
“So I called my wife, she’s like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m just gettin’ ready for the game and I’m dressing tonight.’ She sounded so happy for me and everything.”
Moments later, the guy responsible for cleaning everyone else’s dirty uniforms had a bright new one of his own - with his name on the back.
Of course, Alves sat the whole game - until the very end.
“I thought the game was over,” Jorge said. “I got up and started heading toward the locker room and I heard, ‘Jorge.’”
Turns out there were seven seconds left. Carolina was down by two so it didn’t really matter for the score - and those seven seconds passed unremarkably. But for Alves, he can now say he played in the NHL.
“Working hard and staying committed to something, it can really make your dream come true,” Alves said.
He may not be a pro athlete, but he is exactly what kids should aspire to be.
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