Billeting is jr. hockey’s home away from home

FORT FRANCES—It was understandable that Jamie Busch would be hesitant to let Logan McDonell move in.
The father of two took a chance bringing McDonell, an 18-year-old from Atikokan and current leader in penalty minutes on the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres, into his home, but that’s how the world of junior hockey billeting works—and Busch would easily take the same chance again.
“I know a lot of people would be apprehensive about billeting, and we were at the beginning, too,” Busch said. “But from all of the kids I’ve met on the team, I would highly recommend it for any family.”
Billeting is common in junior hockey throughout Canada, when players leave home for the opportunity to play hockey for a paycheque—one that’s not big enough to support them on their own, and coming at a time in their late teens when living in a family household is still important.
Eighteen players on the Sabres’ roster currently are in billet homes, and many of those have had a stay at Mary Cooper’s house.
Cooper organizes the Sabres’ billeting process, and currently has forwards Matthew York and Alessio Tomassetti living in her home—down from as many as four players early in the season.
“We got into it because our own boys had been billeted out. We felt like we were giving something back,” Cooper noted. “It’s like having your own kids at home, the way I see it.”
Cooper is in the middle of the world of Sabres’ billets, both as an organizer and because so many of the players—even those in other homes—spend time at her house.
She said that hosting a billet isn’t without its problems. Dealing with curfews is a common one—they’re no different than anyone else at that age.
“They’re just like any other boys, any other teenager, I find. I raised boys myself,” Cooper said. “That’s the way I treat them. I treat them like I did my own kids.
“I expect respect from them, and I give the same back to them.”
York admitted living with Cooper isn’t too different from his home in Edmonton.
“It’s pretty close, I dunno. The meals are good,” he said. “It’s definitely hard living away from home, but you get used to it.”
While the billets themselves have a lot to gain, the families that host them can be better for the experience. Stacy Wilde said her billet, Ray Pressacco, is good with her two young boys and “great to have around” the house.
“It’s interesting,” she said. “It’s a learning experience for me because my children are six and 13, so I have a 19-, soon to be 20-year-old, in the house.
“It’s definitely opened my eyes into what’s to come, that’s for sure.”
Both sides adjusted after a short while, said Wilde, adding that Pressacco is “like having a big brother in the house” for her two boys.
In fact, the older of the two, Dylan, sees Pressacco’s career as an inspiration.
“They look up to him as far as hockey because from what Dylan has told me, he sees he can go further in hockey than he thought he could,” Wilde noted.
Busch, meanwhile, said his 12-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son both have taken to McDonell.
“Oh, my kids really look up to them. My daughter not so much, but my little guy, my son, I think he’s almost in hero worship kind of deal,” he noted. “You know, little boys, eh?
“With Logan, the kids come home from school, he sits down with them and asks them how their day was. He spends time with them. He’s a good kid. And that helps.”
Busch added that when he went to Montreal on business earlier this month, McDonell offered to take his son to the rink to his house league hockey games, and has spent time teaching a friend’s daughters how to skate.
“Actually, he’s a good kid. Things haven’t changed at all, really,” Busch said. “It’s just like having another kid in the family.
“Actually, all the boys are really good. They’re respectful, they’re good with the kids . . . it hasn’t changed life much at all really except for the grocery bill.”
There are a number of things synonymous with young hockey players, but few are as notorious as their appetites. Busch insisted McDonell’s diet is reasonable—“He eats less than I do. He’s not that bad,” he laughed—but Wilde admitted seeing Pressacco eat was “a shock.”
“He can eat two full servings a meal, and then plus he has his eating in between his meals to keep his energy, I guess. He’s always in his protein shakes,” she said. “Movie night, it’s easy to go through popcorn and chips, cookies. . . .”
And the milk.
“My boys drank milk, but I’ve never seen milk go so fast in a house,” Wilde continued, noting the family now will go through as much as 24 litres of milk in a week.
Wilde said Pressacco drinks a lot of the milk straight. “Big glasses of milk, and he’ll chug ’em,” she noted. “Which is a good thing, ’cause my boys look up to him, and they’ll do that.”
Families get $400 a month for hosting a billet alongside a set of season tickets for the Sabres’ home games, but Wilde warned that it’s simply not enough to cover all the expenses a billet incurs.
“Financially, no, you don’t even break even,” she admitted. “For someone who may be interested in doing it next year, be prepared that there is an additional cost outside of billeting.
“So financially, no, you don’t gain anything from it, but it is worth it because we’ve gained another person in our life, which is great, and our boys have gained another male role model in their life.”
Sometimes that appetite can drive the players to go beyond the call of billeting. Cooper said although she loves to cook, when most of her family went hunting over Thanksgiving, she wasn’t keen on making a turkey.
York, joined by his brother, MacKenzie, then with the team, along with defenceman Mario Boivin, insisted.
“They wanted turkey, so they helped. They peeled the potatoes, they bought the turkey,” Cooper recalled.
On other days, the boys will eat most anything for dinner Cooper makes (lasagna is a favourite) and the key is to simply keep the freezer stocked with easy-to-make food.
“As long as you have your pizza pops and your waffles, the small pizzas and that stuff,” Cooper said, host families should be fine.
Families also get to know their billets well, beyond the caricatures of rough-and-tumble hockey players they may appear to be on the ice.
Wilde said Pressacco is “definitely a prankster” and “full of jokes.” Busch called McDonell “a real down to earth kid,” but laughed that he’s “a bit of a slob.”
Cooper said Matthew York is “a little quieter” than his older brother, MacKenzie, who lived in her home from August until his release from the team a few weeks ago.
Billets are more than just tenants, she said, and admitted that seeing the elder York leave was emotionally difficult.
“[Families] get pretty attached to them. I mean, I had a hard time leaving MacKenzie at the airport.”
She enjoys the experience, but when asked how billeting changes her personal life, Cooper replied “it hasn’t.”
“Because I always cook, and I love to cook, and like I say, my own boys come home, too, so it’s just like having a bigger family.”
She never misses a Sabres’ home game, but when asked about the free tickets and monthly payment, admitted, “I don’t know that it completely covers expenses, but I’ve never looked at it that way . . . if you can help a kid get through hockey, it makes it easier [for them].”
For her part, Wilde said watching the games takes on a new element knowing Pressacco.
“On the ice, it’s actually really exciting. I’m always excited when my kids are on the ice,” she said. “But to see a faster hockey game and to know the player and to see him personally . . . it’s definitely a rush.
“Even when they’re on a losing streak, it’s still a rush to watch them play.”
Busch also enjoys seeing McDonell play. “He’s a good kid to have on that team. He’s one of the only kids I see that gives ’er 110 percent every time he’s on the ice.”
But, he added, he’s more grateful to have his family see McDonell off the ice.
“Like I say, my son, he really loves hockey, and we want him to see there’s a whole other side to hockey,” Busch remarked. “He just thinks you go and play hockey and come home.
“We wanted him to see that if you go further in hockey, there’s a lot of hard work and you might not be living at home. . . .
“I just wanted our kids to see these boys aren’t just a bunch of hockey goons, that they have a tough road ahead of them if they want to succeed in things.”
Despite his initial apprehension, Busch said the family made the right choice.
“It’s been a positive experience for us, and I was nervous at first, just because you’re opening your home to somebody you know.
“But now that we’ve gone through it, and been involved with it, and I’ve met all the boys, I would recommend it to anybody,” he said.
(Fort Frances Times)