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CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 1996
Dana Bryson: ‘Hockey Mom’ Dana Bryson is usually buried in hockey equipment. Whether he’s sharpening skates, shuttling pads and helmets to buses, providing players extra sticks or making sure their laundry is done, Bryson tends to feel more like a mother than an assistant equipment manager for the Los Angeles Kings. But with Bryson behind the scenes this season, the Kings reached the pinnacle of the sport, winning the 2012 Stanley Cup. As a student at UMass Lowell in the early ’90s, Bryson never dreamed he'd have the chance to hoist hockey’s hallowed prize. During his freshman year as a River Hawk, Bryson was dorm-mates with Jon Mahoney and David Mayes, both of whom were hockey players. The team needed a student equipment manager, and Bryson gladly volunteered. “Those years I was at UMass Lowell were pretty memorable,” Bryson says.
“We made it to the NCAA’s twice and I was there when [Tampa Bay Lightning goalie] Dwayne Roloson played. So, it was a great hockey atmosphere.” After receiving his degree in criminal justice in 1996, the Medford native worked in equipment manager roles at Northeastern University, Providence College and for the Manchester Monarchs. In 2005, he took the job with the Kings. “When I was doing it at school, I never had any aspirations to do it for the pros, but when I got to Providence, that’s when I decided that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Bryson says. “This past year was kind of crazy because it was the first year I traveled with the team full-time.” With a wife and three young children at home in Redondo Beach, Calif., Bryson says the travel wasn't easy. It helps, he says, that his wife, Jesse, works in community relations
for the Anaheim Ducks, and thus understands how hectic hockey life can be. “My wife told me to just worry about hockey and everything at home would be fine,” he says. “She was actually eight months pregnant in the playoffs and we had our third kid right before the first game of the Western Conference finals.” Bryson hopes the team will have a similar season this year. “I’ve watched a lot of these guys come up through the system and really grow up in front of me and that’s pretty special,” he says. “But at the end of the day, we are basically babysitters. I have three kids at home and 25 at the rink. I don’t know how I got here, but I love it and wouldn’t change it for the world.”—RM
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