Last Saturday (Nov. 7) morning started like any other for Harbour Grace resident Zack Quinlan.

Climbing out of bed, the 21-year-old was getting ready to hop in the shower when the shrill of his cell phone interrupted him. Punching in the lock screen code for his iPhone, Quinlan brought up his messages.
In the folder, he found a text from CeeBees Stars' president Mark Reynolds. He was giving Quinlan his golden ticket for the evening.
Reynolds was curious if the young athlete would be interested in suiting up with the senior team for their game with the Northeast Eagles that night.

"It took me less than a second to say yes," said Quinlan. "I did it in a hearbeat."

The text changed the whole day for the CBN Junior Stars defenceman. Instead of having a day clear of any commitments, he had to get in game mode. He was coming off a game the previous night with the Junior Stars and was now preparing for a second one.

Slipping into game day mode, Quinlan started playing the what-ifs in his head. He quickly realized he had to calm down.
"I knew I had to relax and think about playing my game. Be calm with the puck," said Quinlan. "I knew I had to go out there and battle."
His game is that of a smooth skating d-man who can make the first pass out of his zone with consistency and doesn't mind getting his nose dirty when the play is in his own end. It's a style of play that has served him well at the junior level in this province.

A dream come true

Getting the call to suit up for the senior club instantly became a notch on Quinlan's big wall of sports dreams. Growing up in Harbour Grace, he often thought of pulling the red, white and blue CeeBees' jersey over his head prior to stepping onto the ice at the S.W. Moores Memorial Stadium.
"It has always been a dream of mine," Quinlan said of suiting up. “It was great seeing most to the guys who were a part of the Herder teams.”
Stepping into the CeeBees' dressing room at the far end of the rink underneath the scoreboard, Quinlan must have been thinking about the years he spent playing minor hockey in his hometown.
"It was unreal," he said. "It was a real big honour to be asked to play. It's a great memory for me. I was real excited to learn from the guys."

Scoring first

As if stepping onto the ice as a member of the CeeBees roster wasn't enough of a big deal for Quinlan, what happened during his first couple of shifts only added to the hoopla.
Early in the first period, he picked up a loose puck in his zone and started the rush up ice. Getting to the blue-line of the Eagles, Quinlan faked a dump in to beat one man before using one of the two remaining defenders as a screen.
Using the time-tested method of "just put the puck on net," he got something he didn’t expect. Quinlan beat Torbay goaltender Mark Yetman to score the CeeBees' first goal of the game.
"I never expected to get a shot on net," he said. "I put the puck on net and it went in top corner."

A kid in the stands
Reflecting on the CeeBees, Quinlan remembers being just a kid in the stands. He and his buddies would spend their time running around the stadium and the watching the games clad in their CeeBees minor hockey jerseys. He’s played minor hockey since he was four-years-old.
"We were always there," said Quinlan. "Every weekend we’d be up in the stands watching them play."
Since the Junior Stars play out of the Bay Arena in Bay Roberts, the senior hockey game gave him the chance to get a competitive skate in on home ice for the first time in a number of years. He’s played rec hockey there, but nothing that meant anything.
"It was great being back in the home barn again," Quinlan. "It was my first time back since playing midget and high school hockey."

Nik Mercer, CBN Compass