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Death of hockey player turns team into family

NATICK

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 19, 2012|By Jason Mastrodonato

Natick coach Karl Infanger and his team are remembering Justin Bailey by… (George Rizer for The Boston…)

It is hard for Matt Kustra, or any of his teammates on the Natick High boys’ hockey team, to remember what life was like three weeks ago, how normal everything felt.

That all changed on Jan. 4, at the stop of a heartbeat, with the sudden death of senior teammate Justin Bailey.

The Red & Blue had just finished warming up for their Bay State Conference matchup that evening against Needham. As the players returned to the locker room, a few began to wonder why Bailey, a fourth-line center, had not arrived at West Suburban Rink.

Alex Marcinkiewicz tried texting Bailey four times. There was no response.

He made a failed phone call attempt before focusing on Bailey’s younger brother, Griffin, one of his best friends. He sent a few texts.

“Oh, we knew something was wrong,’’ Marcinkiewicz said. “You could just feel it.’’

Bailey’s father, Ben, had walked into the house around 5. His wife, Nicole, was on her computer, sending e-mails. Their two youngest sons, Mason, 11, and Griffin, 15, were doing homework. Then he noticed Justin’s hockey stick. It was not taped.

“I said, ‘What the hell is wrong with him? He’s going to be late for his game,’ ’’ recalled Bailey.

“So I went down to yell at him and I opened the door. The video game was playing - it was one of those race car games - and he was laying there.

“Now sometimes, he’d tease me when I’d yell at him. He’d turn slowly and go, ‘Is someone talking?’ So I started to yell at him, about being late. And he had his head back laying on the couch with the controller in his hand, so I thought he was giving me a hard time. Then I thought he was sleeping.

“So I went over to shake him and I knew: He was gone.’’ The cause of death was still unknown this week; according to Bailey, it probably will be some time before the family has a definitive answer.

Natick coach Karl Infanger received a call from Bailey a short time later. The game was canceled, along with the team’s match three nights later against Milton.

“It’s just a strange feeling,’’ Marcinkiewicz said. “And you don’t believe it at first because it doesn’t hit you: that he’s gone and will never come back.’’

But Ben Bailey suddenly realized something that would change the entire grieving process for his family.

“You only see the part of your kids that they let you see,’’ he said while watching the Red & Blue skate against Acton-Boxborough Regional at the Nashoba Valley Olympia on Monday night. “And then something like this happens, and you realize it affects a whole community.’’

The Baileys invited the entire team over to their house the day after Justin’s death, and the girls’ team the day after, followed by the boys’ team again that Saturday.