A firefighter passes the puck to another firefighter at the Glenview Ice Center. The second firefighter takes a shot at the net. He misses and a player from the Ice Center team – coaches and arena staff – gets the puck from behind the net and starts across the ice with it.
Watching this is Kathy Pagano. This game on Jan. 4 is in honor of her deceased husband, Neal, and a fundraiser for the Pagano Family Memorial Fund, which is to raise money for college for their three boys: Jake, Luke and Nick.
Neal Pagano used to be a commodities broker at the Mercantile Exchange. He left that work and in 2008 along with partners opened up Pallet Wrapz in the West Loop, a company that manufactures vinyl mesh wrap for items on pallets. The company was headed toward $2 million in sales at the time of his death.
On Oct. 14, 2012, Pagano was found dead in his backyard after tripping or falling into a brick fire pit and breaking his spine.
Pagano was a big sports fan, especially of hockey, said Kathy Pagano.
“We have three sons and they all played hockey and he coached them all,” Pagano said. “Sometimes they were on three different teams. He had a lot of patience with younger kids and got along with the parents.”
“Neal was a big proponent of our hockey program,” said Brian Montgomery, manager of program services at the Ice Center.
Nowadays the two older sons – Jake, 17 and Luke, 16 – both play hockey for Glenbrook South High School, while Nick, 14, plays for the house hockey league at the Glenview arena.
Nor is Kathy Pagano a stranger to the arena. She is a hockey team manager and handles communication among coaches, teams and parents.
“I don’t miss any games,” Pagano said.
The arena held a fundraiser hockey game for the Pagano Family Memorial Fund in 2013. A planned fundraiser in 2014 was canceled due to snow.
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Meanwhile, on the ice, the firefighter and arena staff teams find themselves evenly matched. Every time one team scores, the other gets a goal and matches it. At the end of the third period, the two are tied 7-7 until a three-minute shootout allows the firefighters to score a last goal and win the game.