Ashton, Al

Al Ashton, who lived in Bloomfield, NJ got his boys, Michael and Douglas involved with ice hockey and the Essex County All-Stars in the early 70's. I met Al at Ocean Hockey School in the summer of 1973 while I was working as an off-ice counselor. From our first meeting we became good friends and Al a good mentor to me. I learned a lot about people, and about life from this guy.

The Ashton's moved on to the Cedar Grove Hockey Club and Garden State Hockey Club at Danny Michael's where Al served on the Board of Directors handling all of the clubs fundraising efforts and annual dinner events. He worked as the manager for several teams, including his son Dougie's Garden State Rockets Bantam A team.

Al was born in New York City and knew it like the back of his hand. He had an iconic photo of him and Harry Chapin sitting on a sofa together when they were about 8 years old. They attended grade school together. In the Fall of 1976, I went with Al into NYC to see the sights including my first visit to the World Trade Center. Another trip foun…