Mission hockey team headed to nationals
Theo DiPauli loves playing hockey. He started at a young age and his goal is to someday "go pro."
But he's far from your everyday 15-year-old American boy with a stick and skates.
Theo hails from Borzano, Italy, nestled in the country's northern edge between Venice and the Austrian border.
German was his native tongue, but Theo's American-born mother taught kids English in Theo's hometown.
He started playing hockey when he was 4. Not exactly the sport of choice for most boys in soccer-crazy Italy.
"Hockey is about fifth," he said.
Theo is now a member of the Bantam Major 93s team for the Chicago Mission, which is headed for the USA Hockey national tournament next month.
He first hooked up with the Mission a few years ago at the Fussen Cup hockey tournament in Germany.
Mission coach Mike McPartlin took a group over to Germany and Theo was playing for an Italian team.
Now Theo spends half the year with his family living in a condo next to Seven Bridges in Woodridge. He goes to Downers Grove North High School and plays with the Mission.
"I have all my friends here," Theo said. "We are all playing the game we love and enjoy."
"It's a very unusual situation," McPartlin said, "and we are very fortunate."
The Mission is one of the four AAA-level junior hockey organizations in Illinois.
The Bantam Majors have boys from Evanston and Arlington Heights to Naperville and St. Charles. Even two from Wisconsin.
The Mission won the state championship, advancing to the Central District tournament this past weekend in Vernon Hills against the top teams from Wisconsin and Missouri.
In the first game Friday, the Mission crushed a team from Madison, Wis., 8-0.
"In practice the Wednesday before we were unbelievable," McPartlin said. "It was the most amazing youth hockey practice I've ever seen, and we carried it over to Friday."
The next day the Mission recovered from a 3-2 hole to beat Missouri's champion 8-3. A 6-1 win over Missouri on Sunday capped off the weekend.
"Our team across the board has a real high hockey IQ," McPartlin said. "They are great kids, work hard and are very competitive. When we are playing at the top of our game we move the puck extremely well."
Tyler Wolf of Naperville joined the Mission for the first time this season. He previously played for the Team Illinois AAA team.
Tyler's little brother, Matthew, and friends, Harley Simmers and Seamus Malone, also from Naperville, played for the 93s Mission team. The younger boys are now headed to Sweden to play for the USA Selects hockey team.
The older boys' Mission team won the prestigious Morley's Cup tournament in Toronto in December for the second straight year.
"This is the most talented team in Illinois," Tyler said. "We just have good team chemistry."
Tyler met Theo last year, and played hockey with him last summer. He even traveled to Italy.
"We hang out outside of hockey," said Tyler, who attends Neuqua Valley High School.
McPartlin said that Theo has drawn interest from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. That program has cultivated such stars as current Chicago Blackhawks rookie Patrick Kane.
For now, though, the focus for Theo, Tyler and the rest of the Mission is nationals.
The first game is April 2 in Hackensack, N.J.
"I've never been to nationals," Theo said. "I'm pretty excited."