A Goal That Inspired Friends and Rivals

Sports teaches kids so many things — the benefits of physical activity, the joy of teamwork, the ability to overcome a loss. Most importantly, being involved in sports can inspire people to do great things.

My son, James, is a senior at Reading Memorial High School in Reading, Massachusetts, and plays varsity ice hockey for the Reading Rockets. One of his teammates is Christopher McFarland — also known as “Bear” — who manages the hockey team.

“The Woburn boys were yelling, ‘Hold the clock,’ as it ticked down because they wanted Bear to score before time ran out,” said one dad.

Bear isn’t just anybody. He’s a young man with Down syndrome. At 20, Bear is a student at Reading High, holds a job at the local YMCA, and is an enthusiastic brother, son, employee, and friend. His brother, Nick, a sophomore, plays on the varsity team — although he’s missed much of the season due to a torn ACL.

Senior Night is an annual hockey tradition in our town, and it’s emotional for us parents. Each family walks out to a small square of red carpet on the ice before the game, and one by one, the senior players skate to their family from the bench, holding a red rose that they present to Mom. There are hugs, tears, and pictures taken, and the player skates back to the bench. The season — and the hockey career, for most players — will soon be over.

After the ceremony this year, performed in front of packed stands, we settled back in our seats. We were anxious to see the boys play a great game against the Woburn Tanners, our rivals. Suddenly, we saw Bear skate to center ice.

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His name boomed over the rink loudspeaker: “Christopher ‘Bear’ MacFarland, starting at center.”

We moms looked at each other: Bear doesn’t play. He’s usually on the bench, providing water bottles, a clap on the back, a word of encouragement to his teammates. What was going on?

But the Reading fans started to go wild — students began screaming and cheering. And when I looked over at our opponent’s bench, many of them were clapping and cheering, too.

We all got it.

Bear skated to center forward position. The whistle blew and the puck dropped — and Bear won the faceoff. He skated down toward the net, the puck was passed back to him, and he took a shot — it missed. Bear’s shoulders slumped. One of the Reading players tapped the ice with his stick, telling Bear where to go. He skated to position, the puck was passed to him again, and just like that, he scored — straight into the net.

The Woburn Tanners on the ice celebrated as Bear’s teammates swarmed him, rushing to him from all over the ice after his goal. Players on the bench banged the boards and cheered. The Tanners players tapped their sticks loudly on the ice — the universal signal among hockey players for “well done.”

“When I realized what was going on, I had to give it to the Tanners, big-time,” said my husband, Fred, about watching the moment. “They were going to let Bear have his moment.”

It was a scene that will live in Reading sports history forever. Even ESPN picked up the story for their week’s Top Ten, noting “the Bear Dab” — Bear’s signature move in which he extends his right arm, and pops his forehead toward his forearm.

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All the local news affiliates interviewed Bear and his teammates the next day, and the hockey players started calling Bear “Hollywood.”

“It was so fun to score a goal,” Bear told me later. “I felt really good about it. My favorite thing is hanging out with my buddies.”

It turns out the Tanners had everything to do with Bear’s goal on Senior Night.

“I was thinking to myself, how do we involve and recognize Bear on Senior Night?” said Brian Tobin, a father with two sons on the Reading team who runs the Rockets’ social media and acts as a strong advocate for all Reading athletes. “I said to Darin [Bear’s dad], ‘What if Bear dressed [put on his uniform] and skated out to center ice?’ He said, ‘Absolutely.’

“I asked our coach [varsity hockey coach Mark Doherty] and he said the same thing,” Tobin continued.

“They were going to let Bear have his moment.”

Then, an idea was hatched just moments before the game — by the opposing team’s coach. “Jimmy Duran, the Woburn hockey coach, said, ‘Why don’t we let Bear skate — let him take a shift?” Tobin explained. “The Tanners coach was supportive and enthusiastic.”

Tobin said the heartwarming collaboration continued on the Tanners bench. “The Woburn boys were yelling, ‘Hold the clock, hold the clock,’ as it ticked down because they wanted Bear to score before time ran out. This was everybody in that rink saying, ‘Let’s get this done — good things happen when everyone says ‘yes.'”

Bear’s parents, Susan and Darin McFarland, were surprised and overjoyed by his chance to play hockey. The second of their five children, ages 22 to 12, Bear has taught the MacFarlands a lot about faith and love.

“I was screaming and yelling as I began filming. My hand was shaking and I was crying,” Darin McFarland, the Boston director of Athletes in Action, a Christian sports ministry, told me. “Bear always sees the glass as half-full to overflowing, and has such a good work ethic and a ‘never quit’ attitude. He’s always joyful for what he has, and I think that’s challenging and encouraging for everyone around him.”

Said Susan MacFarland, “Bear lives very much in the moment. I think it’s my tendency to live in the future, and sometimes living with fear and anxiety of the unknown. Bear is the opposite of that.”

Of Bear’s goal, she laughed and said, “It was just so wonderful. I was really moved by Bear’s friends on the team during the whole thing. One player was helping him to warm up, another helped him get his helmet on. Then the boys on the ice were directing him where to go to shoot the puck. It was all pure love and excitement for Bear from everyone.”

The MacFarlands returned to the U.S. from Yekaterinburg, Russia, where they had been living and working, to give birth to Bear — unaware he would be born with Down syndrome. When their son was three, they returned. In Russia, children born with Down syndrome are usually institutionalized, and an organization the MacFarlands founded with family members called The Sunshine Kids is helping to change that.

“Parents involved with our organization went back to pick up their kids from the orphanages where they had left them,” noted Darin. Susan’s sister still runs the organization from Moscow.

They returned to the U.S. in 2008, and chose Reading for its schools, its services for children with disabilities — and its hockey. “We have been overwhelmed with the support, encouragement, and acceptance in the Reading community from Day One, from elementary school on up, including the athletic teams,” said Darin. “We learned to skate in Russia and became hockey fans there. Reading was a fit for us.”

Susan notes the lessons in adversity, too, this year. “Nick has had to stay on the sidelines of hockey this season due to his injury, and I think it helped him in a way — he has perhaps gotten a glimpse into Bear’s life. While I’m not sure he would say that, I think it might be true.”

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“This is the best of sports,” reflected Darin of Bear’s goal. “It connects with the deepest part of who we are as humans. I think we are created to worship, and in a moment like that, it might be a snapshot of what heaven may look like — people want that and are looking for that. The euphoria a community of people feel when something truly good happens — that is a glimmer of what could be.”

“Good news travels so fast, and Bear’s story proves that,” said hockey dad Tobin. “People everywhere know about Bear’s goal, and his story is still spreading.”

Bear’s lessons will not be soon forgotten by the Reading Rockets players — particularly the seniors. “Bear adds fun to the locker room, and he’s such a great guy; he’s just a great person,” said my son James after the big night. “He reminds us to take a break from the seriousness of hockey, and just have fun, and enjoy this moment, not worrying about what is next. What a way for us to end our hockey careers.”

It seems fitting that the Rockets won their game against the Tanners by a score of 3-2 — with Bear cheering them on from the bench, every step of the way.