I was sitting in the locker room at the HoCo Arena on Sunday morning, getting ready for the first game of the Oldtimer’s hockey season. The locker room chatter started slowly and built up as more players walked into the room.

It was just a few days ago, but I honestly cannot remember who mentioned it, but someone asked if we had heard about Charlie Turner. At first, the way the question was asked, I was afraid he had passed away at a young age.

Fortunately, that was not the case, but rather, his house had burned down on Saturday.

How do you react to something like that?

I’ve known Charlie at least since I was 16 or 17 years old. He was on a travel hockey team with my younger brother. The same one my father coached that year.

I got to know him, along with my brother’s other teammates over the course of that season. I mean, I knew of him, but I did not really know him. However, since my father was the head coach of that Bantam team, I helped out with practices whenever I could.

It wasn’t like I had a ton of time. After all, I was playing on the Houghton Gremlins as a senior. In fact, I had left home to play for the Northeast Wisconsin Roadrunners, a Midget AAA team, based out of Green Bay. However, whenever I was home, I was on the ice with my brother and my dad.

I lasted about 20 games with the Roadrunners before I decided I was not playing as much as I had hoped, and needed a change of scenery, so I returned home and joined the Gremlins for a truly special season that saw us make a run to the state semifinals.

That gave me more chances to help out with my brother’s travel team. Several players from that team became acquaintances, and even later, friends. Charlie was among them.

Once we lost our state semifinal game in Flint, I was one of two or three guys who had younger brothers on my father’s team. We all made the trek from Flint to Detroit, where our siblings were playing, and we went to cheer our brothers on.

I helped my father with things I could see from the stands, and it was a blast to talk some strategy with Charlie about what I could see from the stands that he could take advantage of.

Charlie moved on from that travel team to continue to play hockey even to this day. He played three years for the Gremlins himself before moving on to play for the Portage Lake Pioneers.

He has been a stalwart for the Pioneers, averaging about 19 games a season until 2017-18. Even after that, he kept playing, playing some 12-13 games a year for multiple seasons before COVID. Most seasons, he scored more points than the number of games he played.

He is still playing for the Pioneers, seeing action in fewer games for a couple of seasons before playing 15 in 2022-23 and 13 in 2023-24. Last season, he played in eight, and still managed to net five points in those games.

He has always accepted my requests for interviews after Pioneers games. He has been a leader both in the locker room and on the ice for the team over the years.

I have played Oldtimers for three seasons now, and Charlie has been a constant in those games as well. In fact, as I understand it, he was the No. 1 pick in this year’s Oldtimer’s draft. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Charlie is the kind of person who always carries a smile on his face. He just loves the game. You can see it when you watch him skate. He still has an effortless stride, even in his early-to-mid 40s.

Charlie and his family, including his two young daughters, lost everything but each other in the fire that took their home Saturday. They even lost their dog, Monte.

Another friend of mine, Shannon Sebela, started a GoFundMe for Charlie and his family. The link is: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-charlie-and-his-family-after-a-home-fire.

Please, I urge you to show your support for a friend of mine, who I believe is one of the really good people in the Copper Country.

Shannon set a goal for the GoFundMe of $30,000. When last I checked Wednesday night, it was already 87% funded at $25,805 on the strength of 283 donations, which is incredible. But, again, I urge you to consider donating as soon as you can. Charlie and his family have a long road ahead of them and any help will be greatly appreciated.