It is the nature of the sport that unless they are willing to stick up for one another, a hockey team is unlikely to have any success.

A glittering success story at 11-4-3 this season, the Ramapo High School hockey team has not only fought for one another, they have joined their first-year coach in another fight—this one away from the rink.

Lee Barber not only feels it, he sees it—every time one of his Raiders skates past him.

On each of their helmets is a cerebral palsy awareness ribbon—in recognition of the battle Barber's 5-year-old daughter Kaiya wages every day.

Barber first noticed the ribbons at a mid-January practice, ironically, the day before Kaiya's fifth birthday. Without his knowledge, or even that of his assistant coaches, the 20 mature-beyond-their-years teenagers took the initiative to support the cause. 

"Every time I think about it, it gets me choked up inside," Barber said. "Being a first-year coach, it made me feel like I was a new kid getting accepted, like I was part of the team. The ribbons are a reminder that my family and I are not alone. I feel very blessed to be part of a team full of such character. "

Kaiya has shown a lot of the same fierce determination her father's hockey team has this year. Although doctors told Barber and his wife Jill that Kaiya would never get out of a wheelchair, the coach beams when he tells you she took her first steps on March 31, 2009.  Although she doesn't yet speak, she now walks with the assistance of a walker, and she's involved in every type of therapy you can imagine. 

"My daughter works so hard, she's so determined and never quits," Barber said. "And that's been our motto this year: Don't quit and don't ever give up. There are times that everyone feels are difficult, but in most cases, they're nothing like what my daughter deals with."

Barber and Ramapo's star goalie Carl Boomhower go back a long way. They first met six years ago at an off-ice goalie training facility. Boomhower last year asked Barber, a former goalie with professional aspirations in his native Toronto, Canada, for a copy of the ribbon. He wanted to include it in the custom paint job done to his goalie mask. This was while Barber coached across the district, at Indian Hills. Boomhower and the Raiders' upperclassmen decided they wanted the entire team to join Barber's cause this season.

"Coach is a big part of our lives," Boomhower said. "We're a family, and we wanted to do anything we could to help out. We want people to see the ribbons on our helmets and ask what they're about. Maybe then, they'll participate in a fundraiser or make a donation to support some research or treatments. "

The Raiders knew they wanted to show their support for Barber's family early in the season, when they had 350 electric green 'Po (as in Ramapo) Pucks shirts printed. They sold them to their fellow classmates and used part of the proceeds to have the cerebral palsy ribbons made.

Barber spent the previous three years behind the bench at Indian Hills. His players there wore the ribbons on their jerseys. They also got together with Ramapo to organize a charity game, called the Kaiya Cup, to help raise money to go towards the therapies and medical treatments not covered by Barber's insurance. Indian Hills took the ribbons off this year, but Barber sees the ribbons again—in the locker room, in practice, during the games, and even on the bumper of assistant coach Tom Witterschein's car—as clearly as he sees hope for his daughter.

"Kaiya's strength and willpower have inspired us," writes senior goalie Jeff Peters in a letter announcing "Kaiyapalooza," a March 24 fundraiser at Ramapo High School. The purpose of the event, featuring food and live entertainment, is to "aid Kaiya in her mission to overcome the effects of cerebral palsy."

Indeed, Barber's hockey community has rallied around his family in a big way.

 "The way these kids conduct themselves on and off the ice reaffirms to me that my preseason expectations were right on," he said. "This is a very special team with potential to play for a state championship. Championship potential aside, these players have shown they understand the bigger picture, they understand what's important in life."

For more information on cerebral palsy see www.cpofnj.org, and for more information on Kaiyapalooza, contact Jeff Peters at jpeters91@ymail.com, or the Ramapo High School Athletic Department.