The Railers have added to the list of pro hockey’s widespread family connections. That list now includes a Hungarian couple. The local half is Worcester defenseman Zsombor Garat. His wife, Fanni Garat-Gasparics, is not local, but hopes to at least get closer to here in not too long
WORCESTER—Despite its often R-rated past, professional hockey is the ultimate in family entertainment. And, by the way, raise your hand if you miss the fights.
The sport’s all-time rosters are family friendly. They are full of fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons, and other family tree connections. Hockey in Worcester has kept up with those traditions, too. The IceCats had father-son combos, including goalies Bob Johnson and son Brent. Their grandfather was Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall, and forward Grant Stevenson his grandson.
The Sharks had Freddie Hamilton while brother Dougie played in Boston.
Worcester, though, has done most cities one — now two — better. The IceCats had a brother-sister connection with forward Pascal Rheaume and older sister Manon, a pioneering goaltender.
The Railers have added to the list of pro hockey’s widespread family connections. That list now includes a Hungarian couple. The local half is Worcester defenseman Zsombor Garat. His wife, Fanni Garat-Gasparics, is not local, but hopes to at least get closer to here in not too long.
She is a forward who skated for the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation last season. The Riveters, based in New Jersey, went out of business when the PHF folded after last season. She hopes to be added to a roster when its successor, the Professional Women’s Hockey League, begins play in January.
No Hungarian has ever played in the National Hockey League. Goalie Levente Szuper almost did, and got as far as the American Hockey League. He finished his AHL career in Worcester in 2003-04.
Garat is 26 and not a newcomer to hockey in North America. He played two years of junior hockey in New England, starting in 2014-15, then moved over to the NAHL for a year in 2016-17. He skated in Minnesota for the (say this out loud and see how strange it sounds) Austin Bruins.
After that, it was back home to his native Budapest.
“My goal was to be able to go to college,” Garat said, “but I didn’t get a good enough scholarship. I was fortunate enough to make the men’s national team back home so had already sort of started to get involved in pro hockey.
“I also met my wife to-be, now my wife, and all those things led me to go home and I started playing pro there.”
His wife was one reason Garat tried to return to New England. The Riveters played in New Jersey and as hockey distances go, that’s not far from New England. Plus, Garat thoroughly enjoyed his first experience in the area.
Hungary is a landlocked country and Garat’s first winter home here was in Middleboro, a short drive over the Sagamore Bridge to clam chowder and lobster rolls. Then he moved up to Exeter, N.H. The memories were very good ones in both places.
“The Cape was beautiful, very beautiful,” he said. “I loved it here. That’s why I tried to come here.”
Getting back was an adventure, though.
“I contacted agents because I had no idea how the ECHL works,” Garat said. “I had heard some rumors from my old friends who played in the league and from some imports, but was very confused about how things went. I had an agent and they got in touch with Worcester.
“It’s a great setup, being here in Worcester, and now that I’m here and not just seeing something on a map, it’s special.”
While his wife was playing in New Jersey last season, Garat was back in Hungary.
“She had visited the United States before,” he said, “but I had lived here and had a blast and wanted her to experience that as well. But last year our team (in Budapest) had already started and we had a great group of guys and I didn’t want to make the transition.”
“I made up my mind that I would be coming close to her,” Garat said, “but then the league got terminated and there has been a lot of chaos going on, but I had started before trying to chase the American dream.”
While Garat was in Worcester winning a spot on the Railers roster, his wife has been in Sweden getting ready to try out for an American team. Those tryouts are next month.
Garat was not aware that Szuper had preceded him in the Worcester pro hockey timeline. His career here was brief and uneventful as a Blues farmhand. He got into only three games, all in relief, in 2003-04 and did not record a decision. The most interesting aspect of Szuper’s Worcester career was that he served as a backup to Reinhard Divis, who was Austrian.
This was a resurrection, of sorts, of the Austria-Hungary Empire of World War I. For some reason, though, Szuper seemed very cranky during his stints in Worcester and this correspondent would write about his perpetual bad moods.
He is a noted figure in Hungary these days, an actor and pianist and hockey executive. Garat has met him, likes him, and says he is a good guy. So, maybe he was just having bad days in Worcester, or maybe the reporter was.
“Yeah, I like him,” Garat said. “He’s a big name, the only one who has been really close to making the NHL in terms of Hungarians, so he’s someone we’re all trying to catch up to.”
Garat had an impressive training camp and a stellar Railers debut, going plus-2 in their season inaugural versus Adirondack. He is chasing his version of the American dream and if things work out, maybe he can find the time to treat his wife to a scallop roll in Hyannis.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
