Dad's wallet needs a save--the cost of playing hockey
Equipment, camps, fees, tuition. . . . Hill-Murray senior goalie Joe Phillippi is doing what he can to ease the financial hit on his parents, who have two other hockey-playing sons.
By Tim Leighton
Downhill skiing is Mar Phillippi's passion, but so is raising three hockey-playing sons. Phillippi hasn't hit the slopes in a while because his wallet is a little lighter. Make that a lot lighter.
"There are days you wished they played chess,'' the Shoreview resident said this week with a laugh.
Instead, Michael, Joe and John, sons of Mark and his wife, Diane, chose to play hockey, a decision that can deliver a blow to the family budget.
This season, Mark and Diane are nearing the end of a funding run for Joe, a senior at Hill-Murray High School and one of Minnesota's elite goalies. Eldest son Michael, a Hill-Murray graduate, is playing college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha. John, a high school freshman, plays on Hill-Murray's junior varsity.
Mark, a manager for Ziegler Cat heavy machinery, can't put a price tag on all the hockey equipment he has purchased over the years. Nor does he want to. From coaching youth hockey in Mounds View to watching his sons play in one of Minnesota's most storied high school programs, the enjoyment far exceeds the cost.
He admits, however, that outfitting a goalie can be a financial strain.
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