Tipped Off
05-01-2006, 09:43 AM
Goodbye, Silvertip
By Sarah Jackson
Herald Writer
SNOHOMISH - He had long hair, a wild, crazy-looking mop.
That's what stuck out when Blaine and Ann McNeil first saw a picture online of Mark Kress, a teenage hockey player they had (gulp) agreed to host during the Silvertips' inaugural season in 2003.
At first, all they had was his name, age and hometown. They jumped on the Internet to see his team photo, full of anticipation and curiosity, with their three kids, Jake, Jenna and Emmalee, then ages 3, 4 and 6.
"He looked scary," said Emmalee, now 9. "He wasn't smiling."
Who was this Canadian stranger from Regina, Saskatchewan?
"I woke up one morning going, 'What are we doing?' " Ann McNeil said. "I got a little anxious. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, we're pretty busy already.' "
Now, three years later, it's obvious such worries were unfounded.
Kress is a beloved family member and the Snohomish family can hardly imagine life without him.
"Right away, we all just fell in love with him," Ann McNeil said, remembering when Kress first walked into the kitchen looking for cereal one morning. "He is just this happy-go-lucky kid."
Thursday night, as the reality of the Tips' final playoff loss sunk in, it was especially sad for the McNeils, who have cherished each week of the playoffs and the extra time they've had with their player.
"We're bummed," Ann McNeil said Friday about the team's loss and Kress' imminent departure. "Jenna, during the last period, said, 'Does this mean he's going home?' She cried the whole rest of the game."
This time, when Kress heads back to Canada, it will be for good.
"It's going to be tough," Ann McNeil said. "He just adds a fun spirit. Mark walks into a room, and you just start smiling."
Though players and their host families - also called billets or billet families - usually part ways after each season ends, this year three veteran players are leaving because of their age. Twenty is the maximum age for players in the Western Hockey League. Kress will turn 21 this year.
Though Kress has gone home to his parents each summer during the past three years, his bond with the McNeils has steadily grown.
"It's pretty special to be a part of a family like the McNeils," Kress said. "This is home, you know?"
Kress, the youngest of three children, wasn't expecting a family like the McNeils.
"I'm thinking, 'I want no kids. I want a basement room. I want seclusion,' " Kress said. "It worked out great. I love it. I love the kids."
The McNeils, in fact, played a major role in Kress' decision to come back for a third season, even though he wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team. Because WHL teams are allowed to keep only three 20-year-olds, he had to try out.
But he knew the McNeils would welcome him with open arms.
"Emma, Jenna and Jake are like my little brother and sisters, cheering me on at the games," Kress said. "Emma knows more about my stats - and stats around the league - than I do. She's a very smart girl.
"Jenna is my personal cheerleader, ready to sing songs and do cartwheels.
"Jaker is the little go-getter. He likes to drop the gloves and beat me up. He usually wins."
Emmalee really doesn't want to see Kress go, even though it means she won't have to share a room with her sister anymore.
"We're kind of attached to him now," she said. "It's really sad."
One of the things Emmalee, Jenna and Jake will miss most is Kress' guitar playing. He entertains them most nights.
"He plays just a couple of songs on his electric guitar," Emmalee said. "It's really fun."
Over the years, Blaine and Ann McNeil have been like parents to Kress, but they've also been friends. They make sure he's home on time, or at least calls to check in, so they can be sure he's safe.
But they aren't afraid to joke around - and neither is Kress.
One night, when Ann McNeil was watching "CSI" alone in the living room, Kress, who was working out in the garage, decided to create a stir.
"He came around on the deck and just started pounding on the window," Ann McNeil said. "I jumped out of my skin.
"I said, 'Payback, dude.' "
Weeks went by as Ann and Blaine McNeil planned revenge.
Then, one night when Kress came home about 4 a.m. after an away game, Ann McNeil broke out a creepy mask.
She climbed into the bathtub and closed the shower curtain.
"I knew I had to be quick," she said. "I just whipped open the shower curtain and he just screamed."
Kress has special relationships with Blaine and Ann McNeil.
Blaine McNeil and Kress like the same kind of music, while Ann has counseled and mentored Kress about relationships.
"I guess when I was 18, I was girl crazy," said Kress, who has been dating Carly Foote from Regina for the past two years. She has visited and become a friend of the family, as well as young Jake's latest crush.
"He is such a wonderful kid and, now, a young man, really," Ann McNeil said. "We did get to see him grow up from this young boy."
Kress has matured in many ways during his time in Snohomish County.
"I think I've grown up here quite a bit, spiritually for sure," Kress said, citing many long talks with the McNeils about God and life.
Kress, who is Catholic, initially passed on attending Cascade Community Church, a Baptist church in Monroe, with the McNeils, but now he's been going with the family for more than two years.
The McNeils' bond with Kress has easily expanded to Kress' parents, Glen and Dorena, who stay with the McNeils when they visit.
The Kresses, who welcomed the McNeil family at their daughter's wedding in Canada last summer, have grown attached to their American counterparts, too.
"My parents miss the little kids," Kress said of the young McNeils. "They're ready for the grandparent life."
Emmalee hopes the whole Kress family can visit again soon.
"Whenever Glen and Dorena come down, Glen always makes a really, really good French toast," she said of the family's favorite morning-after-the-game breakfast.
Blaine McNeil is as thrilled as anyone that Kress and the Silvertips have brought hockey back into his life.
"I grew up with hockey in my blood and played hockey my whole life, and when Ann and I met, I stopped playing altogether," said Blaine, who was born and reared in Calgary, Alberta.
He and Kress have passed on their love of hockey to 5-year-old Jake, who is among the youngest kids playing for the Seattle Junior Hockey Association's Mighty Mite Spartans.
"He picked it up really fast, and he wore No. 16," Blaine McNeil said, referring to his son's first season with the Mountlake Terrace-based group and to Kress' number. "I've always wanted Jake to have an opportunity to play hockey."
Silvertips associate head coach John Becanic, who helps coordinate guidelines for billet households, said not all families find such a pleasing harmony with their players. Often, younger players are still testing their boundaries.
Treating the boys like one of the family often helps, Becanic said.
"If you treat your player like he's boarding, then he's going to act like a boarder," Becanic said. "You have to be very unselfish and certainly committed to the process."
The McNeils have enjoyed having a positive role model for Jake.
But what about that hair?
Well, it went from long to very long to very short in 2005, when Kress grew his hair out, then had it shaved off as part of a season-long effort to raise $10,000 for cancer patients at Providence Everett Medical Center.
What's next?
Kress hopes to enroll in firefighting school in Saskatchewan, and both families are already making plans for a reunion.
The McNeils may apply to host another player for the Tips' next season, but it won't be the same, Ann McNeil said.
"It's not going to be Mark."
By Sarah Jackson
Herald Writer
SNOHOMISH - He had long hair, a wild, crazy-looking mop.
That's what stuck out when Blaine and Ann McNeil first saw a picture online of Mark Kress, a teenage hockey player they had (gulp) agreed to host during the Silvertips' inaugural season in 2003.
At first, all they had was his name, age and hometown. They jumped on the Internet to see his team photo, full of anticipation and curiosity, with their three kids, Jake, Jenna and Emmalee, then ages 3, 4 and 6.
"He looked scary," said Emmalee, now 9. "He wasn't smiling."
Who was this Canadian stranger from Regina, Saskatchewan?
"I woke up one morning going, 'What are we doing?' " Ann McNeil said. "I got a little anxious. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, we're pretty busy already.' "
Now, three years later, it's obvious such worries were unfounded.
Kress is a beloved family member and the Snohomish family can hardly imagine life without him.
"Right away, we all just fell in love with him," Ann McNeil said, remembering when Kress first walked into the kitchen looking for cereal one morning. "He is just this happy-go-lucky kid."
Thursday night, as the reality of the Tips' final playoff loss sunk in, it was especially sad for the McNeils, who have cherished each week of the playoffs and the extra time they've had with their player.
"We're bummed," Ann McNeil said Friday about the team's loss and Kress' imminent departure. "Jenna, during the last period, said, 'Does this mean he's going home?' She cried the whole rest of the game."
This time, when Kress heads back to Canada, it will be for good.
"It's going to be tough," Ann McNeil said. "He just adds a fun spirit. Mark walks into a room, and you just start smiling."
Though players and their host families - also called billets or billet families - usually part ways after each season ends, this year three veteran players are leaving because of their age. Twenty is the maximum age for players in the Western Hockey League. Kress will turn 21 this year.
Though Kress has gone home to his parents each summer during the past three years, his bond with the McNeils has steadily grown.
"It's pretty special to be a part of a family like the McNeils," Kress said. "This is home, you know?"
Kress, the youngest of three children, wasn't expecting a family like the McNeils.
"I'm thinking, 'I want no kids. I want a basement room. I want seclusion,' " Kress said. "It worked out great. I love it. I love the kids."
The McNeils, in fact, played a major role in Kress' decision to come back for a third season, even though he wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team. Because WHL teams are allowed to keep only three 20-year-olds, he had to try out.
But he knew the McNeils would welcome him with open arms.
"Emma, Jenna and Jake are like my little brother and sisters, cheering me on at the games," Kress said. "Emma knows more about my stats - and stats around the league - than I do. She's a very smart girl.
"Jenna is my personal cheerleader, ready to sing songs and do cartwheels.
"Jaker is the little go-getter. He likes to drop the gloves and beat me up. He usually wins."
Emmalee really doesn't want to see Kress go, even though it means she won't have to share a room with her sister anymore.
"We're kind of attached to him now," she said. "It's really sad."
One of the things Emmalee, Jenna and Jake will miss most is Kress' guitar playing. He entertains them most nights.
"He plays just a couple of songs on his electric guitar," Emmalee said. "It's really fun."
Over the years, Blaine and Ann McNeil have been like parents to Kress, but they've also been friends. They make sure he's home on time, or at least calls to check in, so they can be sure he's safe.
But they aren't afraid to joke around - and neither is Kress.
One night, when Ann McNeil was watching "CSI" alone in the living room, Kress, who was working out in the garage, decided to create a stir.
"He came around on the deck and just started pounding on the window," Ann McNeil said. "I jumped out of my skin.
"I said, 'Payback, dude.' "
Weeks went by as Ann and Blaine McNeil planned revenge.
Then, one night when Kress came home about 4 a.m. after an away game, Ann McNeil broke out a creepy mask.
She climbed into the bathtub and closed the shower curtain.
"I knew I had to be quick," she said. "I just whipped open the shower curtain and he just screamed."
Kress has special relationships with Blaine and Ann McNeil.
Blaine McNeil and Kress like the same kind of music, while Ann has counseled and mentored Kress about relationships.
"I guess when I was 18, I was girl crazy," said Kress, who has been dating Carly Foote from Regina for the past two years. She has visited and become a friend of the family, as well as young Jake's latest crush.
"He is such a wonderful kid and, now, a young man, really," Ann McNeil said. "We did get to see him grow up from this young boy."
Kress has matured in many ways during his time in Snohomish County.
"I think I've grown up here quite a bit, spiritually for sure," Kress said, citing many long talks with the McNeils about God and life.
Kress, who is Catholic, initially passed on attending Cascade Community Church, a Baptist church in Monroe, with the McNeils, but now he's been going with the family for more than two years.
The McNeils' bond with Kress has easily expanded to Kress' parents, Glen and Dorena, who stay with the McNeils when they visit.
The Kresses, who welcomed the McNeil family at their daughter's wedding in Canada last summer, have grown attached to their American counterparts, too.
"My parents miss the little kids," Kress said of the young McNeils. "They're ready for the grandparent life."
Emmalee hopes the whole Kress family can visit again soon.
"Whenever Glen and Dorena come down, Glen always makes a really, really good French toast," she said of the family's favorite morning-after-the-game breakfast.
Blaine McNeil is as thrilled as anyone that Kress and the Silvertips have brought hockey back into his life.
"I grew up with hockey in my blood and played hockey my whole life, and when Ann and I met, I stopped playing altogether," said Blaine, who was born and reared in Calgary, Alberta.
He and Kress have passed on their love of hockey to 5-year-old Jake, who is among the youngest kids playing for the Seattle Junior Hockey Association's Mighty Mite Spartans.
"He picked it up really fast, and he wore No. 16," Blaine McNeil said, referring to his son's first season with the Mountlake Terrace-based group and to Kress' number. "I've always wanted Jake to have an opportunity to play hockey."
Silvertips associate head coach John Becanic, who helps coordinate guidelines for billet households, said not all families find such a pleasing harmony with their players. Often, younger players are still testing their boundaries.
Treating the boys like one of the family often helps, Becanic said.
"If you treat your player like he's boarding, then he's going to act like a boarder," Becanic said. "You have to be very unselfish and certainly committed to the process."
The McNeils have enjoyed having a positive role model for Jake.
But what about that hair?
Well, it went from long to very long to very short in 2005, when Kress grew his hair out, then had it shaved off as part of a season-long effort to raise $10,000 for cancer patients at Providence Everett Medical Center.
What's next?
Kress hopes to enroll in firefighting school in Saskatchewan, and both families are already making plans for a reunion.
The McNeils may apply to host another player for the Tips' next season, but it won't be the same, Ann McNeil said.
"It's not going to be Mark."