A hockey champ's handiwork

For three nights in March, you could not miss Joe Phillippi's work on the Xcel Energy Center ice.

Phillippi, a senior goaltender at Hill-Murray, stopped 83 of 85 shots as the Pioneers won the Class 2A state hockey championship.

You might have missed Phillippi's more permanent contribution to the arena, the framed jerseys representing the WCHA's 10 college hockey teams hanging above Gate 2. He assembled some of the frames working with Brian Sherman, a Hill-Murray art teacher who runs a small framing business out of his St. Paul home.

Though he has hired part-time help in the past, Sherman's deteriorating eyesight means having an apprentice to share his vision has taken on new meaning.

"It's nice to help him out," Phillippi said. "It gives me a new perspective to know what he's going through."

Vision problems began nagging Sherman about a year and a half ago, but he figured a new prescription would do the trick. Tests indicated otherwise. He had glaucoma and cataracts in both eyes.

"The glaucoma kind of snuck up on me," he said. "And by that time it had done a lot of damage."

Bright, artificial light is hard on Sherman's eyes, so he rarely shops alone at grocery or hardware stores. He finds it difficult to see objects at close range. And because the glare from oncoming car headlights is troublesome, he does not drive at night.

"It's kind of like looking through lenses smeared with Vaseline," he said.

He considered dropping his framing job but decided to meet the new challenges his vision presented. And he hired Phillippi, whose family he had known for years.

Armed with only a semester's worth of woodshop experience, Phillippi began working with Sherman last June. He learned that even small businesses carry large expectations.

"I won't send something substandard out," Sherman said. "It's got to be perfect."

Phillippi has caught on, and Sherman's only real adjustment has been listening to country music as he works. They are currently matting and framing six large collections of pictures chronicling the history of the St. Paul Civic Center. And Phillippi will soon frame an autographed Bobby Orr jersey for hockey teammate Bo Dolan.

"Athletes with open minds are usually pretty good artists," Sherman said.

A friendship ensued beyond the basement. Phillippi was honored at a recent Hill-Murray student-athlete ceremony, then gave Sherman a ride home after the evening program.

Though instrumental to the Pioneers' state hockey championship, Phillippi was ignored by every United States Hockey League team during the draft on May 14. But working with Sherman has reinforced Phillippi's focus on the bigger joys in life. Not having the proper eyesight to play hockey is permanent. Not having a team to play for is temporary.

"When I have a rough day, I think about how it could be so much worse," he said.

Uncertain where education and hockey might take Phillippi after graduation, Sherman is thinking about a replacement. He said Joe's younger brother, John, is a candidate.

"I've been blessed by a good handful of people who have helped me find new ways to do what I enjoy doing," Sherman said. "The Phillippi family is right at the top of that list."