WI prep hockey player battles lymphoma

Updated: Tuesday, 17 Jan 2012, 11:51 AM CST
Published : Tuesday, 17 Jan 2012, 7:22 AM CST

BARABOO - Mac Ebert is what you'd call a rink rat.

"Just the camaraderie of the team and just playing," he said about why he loves hockey.

Now a high school senior, Mac followed the tracks of his two older brothers to the sport.

"He's the youngest so somebody had to be in the goal," said his mom, Kim Ebert. "He kind of got stuck there from when he was little."

He's been parked between the posts since he was 8 or 9, and has tended the goal for the Baraboo-Portage varsity team on and off for the last 3 years.

"This year he's probably had about 80 to 90 percent of our starts this season," said John Blosenski, the team's coach.

But in August, Mac found himself fending off an unforeseen foe: B-cell Lymphoma.

"The first thing I asked was if I was going to be able to play hockey my senior year," said Mac.

Throughout treatment--including chemo sessions--Mac's kept lacing up his skates every day.

"I only missed one hockey practice due to it," he said.

"They had two-a-day practices, he would practice in the morning, go down to the UW Children's Hospital, go for his chemo, come back have his afternoon practice," said his dad, Steve Ebert.

Mac's determination also serves as a reality check for the others on the ice.

"At 6:30 a.m. while we're on the ice, he's on the ice right next to us practicing and sweating. And you talk about a kid that has poison flowing through his body and he's out there working right with us and really never missing a step," said Blosenski. "So the kid has just shown amazing resiliency through this whole situation."

But the game's also helping Mac deal with the challenge of cancer.

"When I'm playing hockey I just totally block out everything," he said.

The Ebert family said Mac recently had a follow-up scan that they'll learn the results of in February.