[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S641-S642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   EXTRAORDINARY FAMILY OF VERMONTERS

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, there was an article in one of our 
Vermont papers in the last few days about an extraordinary family of 
Vermonters. Marcelle and I have known Dick and Linda Butsch for many, 
many years and we have been especially pleased to watch their five 
children as they have grown. We have also watched Jen and Chris, and 
the triplets, Sarah, Patrick, and Gillian.
  Sarah, Patrick, and Gillian were recently profiled because of their 
hockey activities. I will, at the end of my comments submit to the 
Congressional Record the entire story.
  Dick and Linda are the best of Vermonters. Not only have they given a 
great deal of themselves to the community and to their families, but I 
have always remembered with fondness the many kindnesses they showed to 
my mother and father, while they were alive.
  We are a small State, but it is people like the Butschs that make us 
a great State, and I congratulate all of them and continue to look with 
admiration as their children grow and develop.
  Mr. President, I ask that the article entitled ``Family Values'' by 
Mike Donoghue be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

             [From the Burlington Free Press, Feb. 4, 2000]

                             Family Values


  hockey has been a constant for the butsch clan, including triplets 
                       sarah, patrick and gillian

                           (By Mike Donoghue)

       In Central Vermont hockey, it's not unusual to see the name 
     Butsch for scoring a goal.
       From time to time you might have read a scoring summary 
     indicating ``Butsch goal with Butsch assist.''
       On a few rare occasions it might have said, ``Butsch goal 
     with Butsch and Butsch assists.''
       For years the Butsch family has been synonymous with 
     Central Vermont hockey, especially at U-32 High School in 
     East Montpelier. Now the family is getting more and more 
     attention in all four corners of the state--for both boys and 
     girls teams--and even spreading into colleges in the 
     Northeast.
       The latest bunch of Butsch stars are triplets--Sarah, 
     Patrick and Gillian--the children of Dr. David ``Dick'' and 
     Linda Butsch. The three were born almost as fast as a wing 
     taking three slap shots.
       ``They came less then a minute apart,'' said Linda Butsch 
     with a laugh as she recalled the birthday in late February 
     1984.
       The triplets have followed each other to the ice rink 
     almost as fast as their births. They were skating by 4 and 
     playing hockey by 6. They worked their way up through Mites, 
     Squirts, Pee-wee, and Bantams.
       They also are following in the ice skates of two older 
     siblings, Chris, a sophomore at Skidmore, where he is 
     president of the college's club hockey team; and Jen, a 
     freshman for the Providence College women's hockey team.

[[Page S642]]

       All five made their way through the Central Vermont Skating 
     Association before joining the U-32 varsity.
       ``They play hockey for all the right reasons,'' said Bill 
     Driscoll, head of the North American Hockey Academy in Stowe.
       ``They show up. They love every minute of every game and 
     practice. They have a super attitude.''


                           playing their game

       Sarah and Patrick are stars with the U-32 boys hockey team, 
     while Gillian, the youngest of the triplets, is the top 
     scorer on the newly formed U-32 girls varsity hockey team.
       Patrick led U-32 in scoring last year as a freshman with 24 
     goals and has tallied 23 this year.
       Patrick admits that he winces a little when his sister, 
     Sarah, who plays the wing, has to take a cheap shot from one 
     of the boys on the opposing team. Otherwise, she holds her 
     own.
       ``If it's a clean check, I know she can take it,'' said 
     Patrick, who hopes to play hockey in college.
       Patrick and Sarah normally play on different lines, but 
     from time to time they are on the ice together.
       ``We don't play together that often. We've played more 
     together in the past,'' Sarah said,
       Patrick looks forward to those moments when he is skating 
     alongside Sarah.
       ``It's fun when you are out there and know exactly where 
     she is going to be,'' he said.
       When U-32 voters approved funds for a girls varsity team 
     this winter, Sarah had the chance to switch from the boys 
     varsity. She declined. If she does switch, she will be locked 
     into that decision.
       ``I wanted to stay with the boys just because of the level 
     of play. I thought it would be more advantageous,'' said 
     Sarah, who would like to play college hockey like her older 
     sister.
       Her coach, Jim Segar, agreed.
       ``It would hurt Sarah to go play with the girls because of 
     her abilities,'' Segar said.
       Her sister, Gillian Butsch, played in the CVSA's Bantam 
     Division through last year, but jumped at the chance to be a 
     member of the original girls varsity team.
       ``All the players and all the parents were in favor of a 
     girls team so they could be equal with the boys,'' Sarah 
     said.
       Sarah, who is the leading scorer on the girls team, said 
     the varsity team has improved substantially since the start 
     of the season.
       In order to better compete with the boys, Sarah works out 
     with weights in some of her free time.
       Segar and U-32 girls coach Mike Reardon said the Butsch 
     children have been supportive of each other.
       Reardon said when no scorekeeper was available for a recent 
     girls varsity game, Patrick jumped in to run the scoreboard.
       ``Not everybody would do that,'' said Reardon.
       Hockey isn't the only passion they share. The three 
     sophomores also like to play soccer in the fall and lacrosse 
     in the spring. They also have been known to pick up a tennis 
     racket.


                            the biggest fans

       Dick and Linda Butsch have not only supported their 
     children in their hockey exploits, but also in their day-to-
     day lives.
       ``The parents are really great people,'' Reardon said. 
     ``They have instilled a lot of social values in their kids. 
     They also have provided them with their same humility and 
     sense of humor.''
       Driscoll also has followed their careers.
       ``With five children, you would have thought their parents 
     would have burned out on hockey by now. But they are at every 
     game,'' he said.
       Butsch's career included a stint on the junior varsity team 
     at Princeton. ``It was all downhill after that,'' he said 
     with a laugh.
       Others would dispute that, including Segar and Reardon.
       Butsch has been active with the new hockey rink in 
     Montpelier, the Central Vermont Civic Center, and helped 
     raise the $1.8 million for its construction, Segar said.
       ``Dick Butsch is making hockey happen in Central Vermont. 
     Not only for U-32 and Montpelier, but the Harwood Association 
     and others.'' He said even Spaulding High has used the 
     Montpelier center when unable to use its home ice because of 
     the farm show.
       Butsch is trying to raise anothers $100,000 to put the 
     final touches on the civic center, which opened in December 
     1998.
       Butsch, a surgeon, has been known to show up in his 
     hospital scrubs at civic center board meetings, Segar said.
       Reardon said this winter he had a severe gash to his hand 
     and Gillian pulled out a medical supply kit to help stop the 
     bleeding and urged him to go see her father for stitches.
       Reardon said a few days later, when it can time to removing 
     the stitches, Butsch accommodated the coach at the rink by 
     taking them out.
       Linda Butsch admitted she is a limited skater. Her husband 
     said she had a short hockey career.
       ``We got her to play goalie once. She never came back,'' he 
     said.


                             the first wave

       The Butsch triplets aren't the only family members making a 
     name for themselves in the world of hockey.
       Jen Butsch, a freshman on the Providence College woman's 
     hockey team, had two goals and one assist last weekend, 
     including the game-winning score against Cornell on Saturday.
       Earlier this season, she had a game-winning goal with four 
     seconds remaining in overtime at St. Cloud. The Friars (15-5-
     3 overall, 9-4-3 in ECAC play) are ranked eighth in the 
     nation. Butsch has nine goals and seven assists, putting her 
     third in points for Providence, which is undefeated in 13 of 
     its last 14 games.
       ``She is quite a role model for her sisters,'' U-32 boys 
     varsity coach Jim Segar said.
       Chris Butsch is a sophomore at Skidmore, where he is 
     president of the first-year club hockey team. He was a 
     Division III all-state center at U-32, where he was the 
     leading scorer and two-year captain. He keeps busy trying to 
     line up games for the team and checking the Internet to see 
     how his sister Jen is stacking up. When he gets home he tries 
     to suit up for an occasional game with a local team, the 
     Bolduc Crushers.

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