Heavenly Father, Divine Goalie, we come before You this evening to seek Your blessing. . . ..Keep us free from actions that would put us in the Sin Bin of Hell. . . .Help us to stay within the blue line of Your commandments and the red line of Your grace. Protect us from being injured by the buck of pride. May we ever be delivered from the high stick of dishonesty. May the wings of Your angels play at the right and left of our teammates. May You always be the divine Center of our team, and when our summons comes for eternal retirement to the heavenly grandstand, may we find You ready to give us the everlasting bonus of a permanent seat in Your coliseum. Finally, grant us the courage to skate without tripping, to run without icing, and to score the goal that really counts–the one that makes each of us a winner, a champion, and All-Star in the hectic Hockey Game of Life. Amen

Charles S. Prebish
— Father Edward Rupp

My late brother had this on his cork board for years.  I was cleaning out the garage this weekend and came across it (along with a picture of a young Denny Savard).  The paper it was on is getting warn so I retyped it into Google Docs.  I then decided to look it up to see where it came from .  It seems it was written by Charles S. Prebish who is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, where he served on the faculty from 1971 until 2006. He is also Charles Redd Chair in Religious Studies Emeritus at Utah State University, where he served from January 2007 until December 2010 (http://www.personal.psu.edu/csp1/).

I found what may have been the original writing of this here [http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/16788697/1491912114/name/Prebish.pdf].

I wish my brother was here now.  It has been so many years.


Edited 6/13/2020. It turns out that Charles S. Prebish wrote about this excerpt in his paper which was actually delivered by Father Edward Rupp before the 1976 World Hockey Association All-Star game. I am only to assume at this point it was written by Father Rupp as well.