Al Arbour: A Total Stranger's Passing Can Make A Grown Man Cry

Al Arbour's loss today made my cry, it hurts. 

What can I do but speak from the heart? I have lost family recently to dementia, and seeing the images of Al Arbour during this past year knew the agony he was going through because we experienced it daily. 

I knew this day was going to come very soon, and was expecting it to the point of checking even earlier this morning before I posted my entry.

There would be relief when there was no update, but it was always in the back of my mind.

Today became the day. 

I'm glad he's no longer suffering, and would think often of what he was enduring every day with his family.  How cruel that a man who brought such joy to so many lived his final days in agony, it was so horribly unfair.

Al Arbour could make total strangers like myself who never met him cry over his passing like he was my family. To an entire generation of sports fans, I believe for some that's how special this man and Bill Torrey still are to so many people. 

How these men worked together was something so rare and unique, it resonated all the time by the players words over the years.

This franchise under these men were a family with bonds that will never be broken.

The players won those Stanley Cups, and you would read how the New York Islanders could beat you any way you wanted to play.

But the truth is they also beat those teams with character, and heart, not just talent, instilled by two very special individuals, the kind rarely seen.

I could tell a million funny stories and have here over the years. Write about all the cups/wins, great games, but today is not for numbers or records.

Today we mourn the loss of Al Arbour, who will be remembered forever.
It hurts badly.

RIP Al Arbour,
Thank You so much.
My deepest condolences to your family.