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Hassmiller given
hockey sportsmanship award
West Windsor
resident feels 'honored'
By Bob
Nuse
Princeton Packet Sports
Editor
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Mark
Hassmiller never knew Bill Smoyer. In fact, Hassmiller had not yet
been born when Smoyer was killed in action in Vietnam in 1968.
But, thanks to ice hockey, Hassmiller now
knows quite a bit about the former Princeton resident for whom the
William S. Smoyer Award for Sportsmanship, Character and
Perseverance is named.
Hassmiller, a West
Windsor resident and freshman at West Windsor-Plainsboro High, was
presented with this year's award at the conclusion of his Princeton
Bantam A team's season. The award is presented each year to a player
in the Princeton Youth Hockey Association.
Hassmiller did not win the award because he
was the team's best player or highest scorer, but rather because he
was a player in the Princeton Youth Hockey Association who best
demonstrated the characteristics that went into the award.
"Our last game of the season we were at a
tournament and they were handing out trophies in the locker room,"
Hassmiller said. "My coach (Larry Sanford) started talking about one
player back a while ago who played for Princeton and about how he
was killed in Vietnam.
"I really didn't expect
to get an ward like this, so I was pretty happy."
While Hassmiller obviously had no way of
knowing Smoyer personally, he was able to understand what he must
have had to deal with while in the Vietnam war.
"My dad was in the war at the same time and he
was shot twice," said Hassmiller, who played as a freshman on the
WW-P varsity this past winter. "He was lucky that he lived. We
talked about it that night and he said that I should be honored,
which I am."
Hassmiller's father, Bob, is a
Vietnam veteran who was wounded while in the 25th Division near Chu
Chi. While he did not know William Smoyer, the two did serve in the
war during the same period of time.
Smoyer was
a player in the Princeton Youth Hockey Association, who later went
on to play college hockey and soccer at Dartmouth College. After his
death, the Smoyer award was created and each year it is presented to
a player within the association who best demonstrates the
characteristics of the late Princeton resident.
This year, that player is Hassmiller.
"I go out to have fun," said Hassmiller, who
is one of nearly 200 players in Princeton Hockey Association. "I
think my team helps me a lot with their motivation. My teammates
motivate me a lot. I think hockey is probably my best sport. I'm
playing freshman baseball right now, but I think hockey is where I'm
best."
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