Dan Capuano's funeral, held at St. Rita, Cassia High School on Chicago's Southwest Side, was standing room only. Hundreds of firefighters from Chicago and around the country participated. Members of the St. Jude Knights Youth Hockey Club were also there wearing their jerseys.
Capuano's sons, Andrew and Nick, played for the Knights, a Northern Illinois Hockey League program that supports many of Chicago's powerhouse Catholic schools. Nick was part of the Squirts team that won the A state championship in 2012-13.
Dan dedicated much of his time to the Order until he was killed in the line of duty while fighting a South Side warehouse fire on December 14, 2015.
The title-winning Knights team wanted to reunite in honor of Capuano and his family and formed a new team in March 2016. “Team Capuano” was scheduled to compete in the Shamrock Shuffle at Notre Dame over the weekend. Their jerseys are red and white and include Dunn's badge number: 1676.
There were initial problems. “The guy who was running the tournament didn't want us to play,” said former St. Jude coach Ralph Lawrence. “He said it would be too competitive.”
Team Capuano just wanted to play together again. I went in. Things were missing. During one game, center Luke Lawrence, Ralph's son, was hit from behind and crashed into the boards.
“It could have paralyzed him,” Ralph said. “It was a terrible hit.”
That's when 13-year-old wing JJ McCarthy rushed in. The future five-star recruit, Michigan quarterback, national champion and soon-to-be NFL draft pick was furious. He didn't drop his gloves, but a scrum ensued.
“It was just a cheap hit into the corner,” Luke said. “JJ was the first to speak. He should come to the corner and have a few words with the kid.”
“JJ yelled at the kid and got kicked out of the game,” Ralph said.
The whole scene was different from McCarthy. He was usually more calm on the ice — his father, Jim, one of Team Capuano's main organizers, didn't like to outburst — but Luke was J.J.'s best friend and a tournament was a moving experience. And in hockey, leadership often involves going into the corner.
“Those kids were playing for something more than hockey that weekend,” Ralph said.
In the end, Team Capuano (a team that was thought not to belong in South Bend) won the tournament. A year later, they returned again as champions.
Ice runs in McCarthy's blood. His mother Megan was a competitive figure skater. He started playing hockey in kindergarten. Organized soccer came later.
McCarthy is on record as saying that hockey was his first love. His experience on the ice ultimately helped him become a better quarterback, and he is now on the verge of being drafted in the first round.
He was 10 years old in March 2013 when the Knights defeated Winnetka for the Tier II Squirt A state championship. He and Luke Lawrence assisted on the only goal of the game. This season was a special season for a special group, which ultimately split as the players changed teams and levels.
McCarthy (far right) was used to winning early on as a member of the St. Jude Knights' championship team. (Courtesy of Ralph Lawrence)
McCarthy and Lawrence were inseparable for years. He was competitive in everything and played so well on the same line that he was given the nickname after the Vancouver Canucks twin stars Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
The Lawrence and McCarthy families stopped by Dunkin' Donuts before practices and games. My dad bought me coffee. Luke will buy a bagel or a banana. McCarthy always ordered the strawberry frosted donut. Ralph Lawrence advised against pre-skate pastries, which became McCarthy's go-to. (After McCarthy signed a NIL contract at the University of Michigan, medium iced coffee and strawberry frosted donuts became the official menu for his Dunkin Donuts in the Detroit area.)
“We still laugh to this day,” Ralph said. “And it didn't hurt him. His speed was perfect. His stomach wasn't too bad either.”
As a coach, Lawrence emphasized the importance of playing strong positions in the neutral zone and the forecheck and backcheck. But McCarthy played the game with feel.
“He knew where the puck was going,” Ralph said. “He knew what the other team was going to do.”
While watching McCarthy play football, Lawrence noticed something similar happening on the field.
“He had the instincts,” Lawrence said. “It was the same thing he did on the ice.”
McCarthy and Lawrence moved on to the Northern Express, another Tier II team that plays in the Central States Development Hockey League, which expanded out of Illinois. It's time for a new challenge.
“I don't think I've ever been more excited as a coach,” Northern Express coach Brent Dolan said.
Dolan's team excelled defensively. The team's forecheck was relentless, but the points didn't increase.
“That changed immediately when JJ and Luke came,” Dolan said. “I think we’re up by two goals per game, which is huge in hockey.”
Checks are now also allowed. There's going to be a lot of contact and a lot of that, and there's going to be a new and different level of physicality. McCarthy could deliver blows, take blows, and avoid them. Extra contact also means extracurricular activities, but McCarthy had no problem mixing it up.
“When I needed something or when I was about to get beat up in the corner, JJ was always there for me and there for me and made sure nothing escalated,” Luke said. I did. “He was always there for me.”
By the time he hung up his skates, McCarthy had developed into a fast and physical forward. (Courtesy of Ted Eagle)
Hockey requires quick decision-making under pressure and contact. For McCarthy as a forward, that often meant receiving the puck while breaking out of his own zone and deciding what to do when opposing defensemen closed in on him.
Do you pass the puck to your teammate quickly? Do you cut quickly around the defenseman? Chip the puck and chase it past your opponent?
“People who don't play hockey don't really understand how fast it is and how many different elements go into it,” Dolan said. “You have to make decisions with the puck, you have to know where to take it and you have to execute it in an instant. That's not an exaggeration. That's probably why he helped J.J. with his vision in football.” I guess it was.”
Shifting on the ice can feel like standing in the pocket. There is chaos and violence everywhere. Check it out — or, more importantly, feel To overcome it. Part of the Northern Express power play, McCarthy had the composure and spatial awareness to operate in the maelstrom.
“Hockey definitely slowed down football,” Luke Lawrence said.
McCarthy, in particular, has developed a Patrick Kane-like knack for avoiding big hits. Dolan later saw him get a hockey-like cut while playing for the University of Michigan.
“He's trying to avoid training,” Dolan said. “The quick, subtle movements he makes in hockey probably helped him in the pocket and also when he was off the edge on rushes and scrambles.”
The summer between seventh and eighth grade, McCarthy began training with Greg Holcomb, a private QB coach at Next Level Athletix. Holcomb discovered many natural abilities. He also saw the influence of hockey.
“Probably one of the reasons he was so good at throwing off the table and moving around and changing direction is that in hockey, if you can't outrun a player or skate past a player, you're absolutely killed. ,” Holcomb said. “Hockey definitely helped him.”
Fittingly, the first game of McCarthy's final hockey season was played at Yost Ice Arena on the University of Michigan campus.
He played for the Chicago Young Americans, a Tier I team under 14, during his freshman year at Nazareth Academy High School. McCarthy was always talented enough to play at the highest level of youth hockey, but football and hockey overlapped too much, especially on weekends.
CYA coach Ted Eagle didn't mind the conflict because of the kind of person McCarthy was.
McCarthy had good hands and a quick release. He played hard, created turnovers, and scored. “He was a beast in the hockey world,” Eagle said. “He threw his body around, but he wasn't that skilled or a big guy. He was just fast and physical.”
And he was the spark, the tone setter. You need that in hockey.
“I was counting on him, too,” Eagle said. “I feel like when you have one or two guys setting the pace, it sets the tone for the rest of the team.”
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McCarthy missed the first game of the tournament at Michigan due to the Nazareth football game, but appeared in the first period of the second game against the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Junior Team. Eagle considers it one of his favorite hockey memories. “He stepped up, showed up in the middle of the game and scored some goals against one of the top teams in the country,” Eagle said.
Hockey practice was held three times a week, mostly after football practice, which meant practicing quite late at night for a high school freshman. Others missed out-of-town games because of Friday night or Saturday morning football games. CYA played nearly 70 games that season, many of which required travel, and McCarthy played in more than 40 of them, according to the Eagle.
Going back and forth between football and hockey required discipline, but McCarthy was different. The Eagle described him as a “frontline guy” in practice. He paid attention to detail, asked lots of questions, and talked about different scenarios. Eagle said McCarthy was desperate for information to improve the situation. His teammates were drawn to him.
“I think a lot of people are aware of this by now, but he was just the ultimate leader,” Eagle said.
After his freshman year in high school, McCarthy hung up his skates and focused on football. During his sophomore season the following year, and a few days before the 2018 Illinois Class 7A state championship game, McCarthy's throwing hand collided with the helmet of a defensive lineman while firing a pass.
“As a quarterback, it's the kiss of death,” said former Nazareth quarterbacks coach Brody Budmeyer.
Everything stopped. Mr. McCarthy was in pain – terrible, excruciating pain. After some tense moments, the sophomore starter with Division I interest wanted to try his hand. He steps back to pass and…
“It's just the pain and anguish of knowing it's broken,” Budmeyer said. “He actually took a knee and we thought, 'Whoa, this is not good.'
But there was no way he was going to miss the state championship game at Nazareth vs. St. Charles North. His parents found an orthopedic surgeon to work on Thanksgiving, and he needed pain tolerance to play.
It didn't matter. McCarthy was a hockey player.
In the state championship game, Nazareth dominated 31-10, with McCarthy completing 15 of 21 passes for 201 yards and one touchdown. A legend was born.
“Ultimately, he had to go out there,” Budmeyer said. “He scored it and led us to the state championship.”
McCarthy's hockey coach believes his experience on the ice has influenced his play on the bench. (Gregory Shams/Getty Images)
On May 11, 2019, McCarthy announced that he was committing to the University of Michigan and coach Jim Harbaugh. During the recruiting process, Nazareth head coach Tim Raki told a story about McCarthy and his broken thumb.
“When I told him he was a hockey player, (Harbaugh's) eyes lit up,” Racki said. “And when I told him about it, the toughness and grit of this kid sealed the deal.”
When McCarthy Announced university decision on social mediahe thanked his three hockey coaches, Lawrence, Dolan, and Eagle, for allowing him to play both sports together.
“I wouldn't be where I am today without hockey in my life,” he wrote.
(Illustration: Sean Riley / The Athletic; Photo: Ted Eagle, courtesy of Scott Tetch/Getty Images
