COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The scraping of sticks on the ice of the backyard rink wasn't the only sound that regularly resonated when Rob Christy and his two older siblings were growing up in St. Paul's Macalester-Groveland neighborhood.
 
There was also the semi-regular shattering of glass.
 
"The rink was something my dad took a lot of pride in," said Christy of his father Ray, a former standout at Minneapolis Southwest High School who labored over the rink year-after-year until his children were old enough to walk down the street to play at the nearby Groveland Ice Rinks on St. Claire Avenue.
 
"My brother, my sister and I spent a lot of time out there. So did a bunch of our friends in the neighborhood. They'd come over after school and we'd play until dinner and even after. We were on the ice all the time."
 
"There were lights out there, but it was kind of close to the house and the netting didn't always do the job," continued Christy, now a senior forward on the top-seeded Saint John's hockey team (16-6-4), which plays host to No. 2 seed Gustavus Adolphus (18-7-1) in the MIAC championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday (March 7) at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. 
 
"There were plenty of times a puck came crashing through the windows into our house."
 
That happened with baseballs in the summer months too. But despite all those repair bills, Christy's mother Irene never complained – remaining nothing but supportive of her children's athletic pursuits.
 
"She was always there at the rink cheering us on," Christy remembered. "She wanted to see us succeed."
 
Christy treasures those memories of Irene, who was only 48 when she died in September 2010 after a six-year battle with breast cancer.

"I was the youngest in the family and we spent a lot of time together when I was little," said Christy, who was just 10 when Irene passed away. "To be honest, I didn't even notice she was sick. Her love and enthusiasm for life never dimmed – no matter what she was going through."

Irene's loss was a devastating blow to the close-knit Christy clan, which also includes brother Ray Jr. – a former Division I hockey player at Colorado College and St. Thomas who is now the Tommies' director of hockey operations – and sister Rose, who attended Boston College and now lives in London.

But Rob said the amount of love and support the family received from their friends and neighbors helped get them through the hard times.

"Going through all that shaped me as a person," he said. "Now I try to live life to the fullest. I learned a lot about leaning on others when you need to. They always say when you can't walk, lean on a friend to do it for you. That's what happened with my family. We had so many unbelievable people who were there to support us.

"It truly took a village to get through that and we had one."

That's why Christy was the first to be there for his friend and teammate Mason Campbell when Campbell's mother Jayna unexpectedly died in January 2025.

The two have long been close, having played junior hockey together with the Minnesota Magicians of the NAHL. They even toured SJU on the same day during their recruiting process.

"When Mason was going through his loss, it brought back a lot of memories of 2010 for me," Christy said. "I knew what he was going through because I'd been through it myself. I just wanted to be there for him as a friend and help take his mind off it if I could.

"Our whole team was amazing through that. That's what makes being part of a group like this so special. Even when you're going through the worst of times, you can go to the rink for three hours and hang out with 28 of your best buddies. It helps you see the joy that still exists in life even as you're grieving."

SJU head coach Doug Schueller said the perspective Christy brought was important not just to Campbell, but the entire team at a difficult time.

"I don't think anybody can really know what someone else is feeling in that situation unless they've been through it themselves," Schueller said. "Having Rob – whom he was already close to – around was really important for Mason. Even though I know Rob had a hard time with it too. It brought back a lot of memories for him that weren't easy. But you could see the way the two of them leaned on each other. There was a comfort there."

Schueller said Christy – an alternate captain for the Johnnies – is a steadying presence on the ice too.

"Rob is our vocal leader, our bench guy," Schueller said. "He's energetic and he knows his role. When he's out there playing, he's effective. He's smart and he puts himself in good spots.

"But I think his most important role is bringing the energy and providing the positivity on the bench."

Christy – a global business leadership major who has already accepted a position with United Healthcare in their sales development program after he graduates – has seen action in 20 games this season, scoring a goal and notching three assists.

His team won its first MIAC regular-season title since 2020 and is looking to win its first playoff title since 2013 – the last time the Johnnies appeared in the NCAA Division III playoffs.

The winner Saturday earns the MIAC's automatic NCAA bid. SJU and Gustavus split their regular-season series with the Gusties winning 5-4 in overtime in St. Peter on Feb. 6 and the Johnnies winning 3-2 in overtime the following night in St. Cloud.

The stakes will be even higher in round three and Christy knows it will again take a village if his team is to come out on top.

"We're pretty evenly matched so it's not going to be easy," Christy said. "We have to go out and play Johnnie hockey for a full 60 minutes. That means playing hard, having fun and doing whatever it takes. If we do that, hopefully the results will come."