Christmas tree outside Massapequa ice rink now also honors Connor Kasin

Thirteen years after Ed Fulford planted a Christmas tree next to the skating rink at Marjorie R. Post Community Park in Massapequa, he welcomed in a new family to share in the tradition of lighting it Sunday.

Fulford, whose son Ed died in a 2011 car crash, lit the tree this time along with the family of Connor Kasin, a fellow Massapequa hockey player who  died after collapsing at intermission of a charity hockey game Nov. 30.

“I cried,” Fulford said of when he heard the news of a fellow grieving Massapequa hockey family. “My wife and I always thought of this as Ed’s tree. Now the Kasins can think of it as Connor’s tree.”

Fulford arranged this year’s lighting ceremony, which was dubbed Connor Kasin Night, with Kasin’s coaches, who played with his son nearly two decades ago. A plaque bearing Kasin’s name was also unveiled next to one that honors Fulford.

“We have to take a negative, something that was horrible and make a positive out of it,” Fulford told the more than 150 people who braved the cold to attend the ceremony. “Think of all the good that he’s done and the hearts he’s touched.”

Money raised at the event, which included an alumni hockey game, is expected to support an award in Kasin’s name.

It was just three weeks ago that Kasin laced up his skates to play in a charity hockey game in memory of a Syosset teen whose life was tragically cut short. Kasin, a 17-year-old senior defenseman for the Massapequa varsity, died at a hospital after suffering an undisclosed medical emergency midway through the exhibition against rival Syosset at Bethpage ice rink. The matchup benefited a foundation started by the parents of Syosset High School graduate Sabrina Navaretta, 19, who was killed in a car crash near her college campus in Delaware last year.

Kasin was remembered Sunday as a giving friend and teammate who aimed to help others, as he was doing when the tragedy occurred last month. 

Sunday’s event was the latest in a series of remembrances for Kasin, who was recognized in a moment of silence from his beloved New York Islanders at UBS Arena earlier this month and after the opening faceoff of his team’s first game without him last week. A 6-foot-2, 195-pound defenseman, Kasin, who took up the sport as a 4-year-old, also competed for the Long Island Sharks hockey club and aimed to continue playing at the collegiate level, according to an online recruiting page.

The late hockey player’s presence could be felt outside the rink as blue and gold plastic cups in the fencing spelled out his initials and uniform number: CK 37. Poster boards were hung with pictures of the late athlete.

The lights on the Christmas tree were not your typical multicolor or white lights, but rather the navy blue and gold colors from his school uniform. The ornaments, too.

Connor's parents, Mary and Craig Kasin, attended the lighting Sunday along with other members of their family. Craig, and Connor's younger brother Colin, climbed a ladder to help put some of the ornaments on the tree.

Fulford said he got the idea for the tree while walking past the Town of Oyster Bay facility one early morning in late November 2011, four months after his son died. The park was empty, but he said he could almost hear the players on the ice, recalling his son's days playing the sport. He said the end goal is to remember even more former Massapequa players who died young, including a few he mentioned Sunday, with a lighting that will be held the Monday after Thanksgiving moving forward. 

Even as the temperature dipped below 20 degrees, family, friends, teammates and neighbors of Kasin filed into the area between the park’s two rinks to honor the teen and Fulford, who was a month shy of 23 when he died.

 Dozens of former Massapequa players from different generations then laced up their skates and played in the alumni game, a series of 15-minute exhibitions. 

“I played with Eddie and to see this shared with Connor is something that’s incredible,” Massapequa varsity coach Matt Bobko said shortly before taking the ice to play. “To see the support out here for the Kasins and for our team is amazing.”

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.