Former player Dan Riva takes over as new head coach of Framingham High boys hockey team

So what was it, 40 years ago, when Dan Riva’s odyssey on ice started? Like the first time he walked into Loring Arena? Yes. He was 5. He had two older hockey-playing brothers, Chris and Jamie. Looking back now, Dan Riva recognized what was happening, spending so much time at Loring.

“I was a rink rat,” he said.

It would take him to faraway, obscure hockey places. Sure there was a parade of necessary stops: Framingham Youth Hockey, a stellar high school career, four years playing at hockey-centric RPI, a year of junior hockey.

And then … come on, it got a little crazy. Really.

Riva turned pro, the big dream, playing in the NHL some day, always in front of him. The days and months rushed past, the years and the hockey seasons flew by. Riva seemed to be racking up an encyclopedic list of organizations he joined. Ottawa Senators, LA Kings, Nashville Predators, Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Riva never got to the highest level, only playing in a few preseason NHL games. But he never quit either.

He loved the sport, and as long as it was a paying job, you couldn’t take him out of the game. Starting with RPI, an ECAC school, Riva’s tours of duty took him to an alphabet-explosion of destinations. AHL. USHL. ECHL. ISL. He played for teams that called Omaha, Manchester, Milwaukee, Reading, Trenton, Binghamton, Cincinnati home.

From 1993 to 2004 Riva laced ‘em up. Then it hit him. The usual, you know, marriage, kids, get a real job considerations. 

“It was either keep playing or turn the page,” he said.

He found a sales job, working out of his Ashland home. But hockey didn’t just vanish from his mindset. He coached his son. Jackson, 16, who plays for Ashland High.

And then the door opened, unexpectedly. Framingham High was looking for a new boys hockey coach. Riva applied and got hired recently. Framingham athletic director Paul Spear recalled the key moment in Riva’s job interview when he was asked why he would be the best choice for the job.

“He said ‘coaching my high school would be a dream job,’” Spear said.

Riva wasn’t looking for a steppingstone to a college gig, or anything similar.

“I told them ‘this is it for me. I want to be the Framingham coach. That’s what I want.”

Riva’s sincerity struck a chord with the board of interviewers. “He hit the ball out of the park,” Spear said.

So it’s back to the where the glory days are buried for Riva. Loring Arena.

“The rink’s four or five minutes from my house,” he said. It’s where his brothers started out. “I wanted to do what they did.” They played hockey.

When it was Riva’s turn, he made varsity as a freshman. “I didn’t realize how hard it was, the commitment you had to make day in, day out. I was just starting to get my feet wet, getting acclimated to playing with kids 2 or 3 years older.”

Turned out, those players helped him find his way.

His sophomore year was the last of the town’s two-school system, Framingham South and Framingham North. They were all Framingham High Flyers now. Riva, a Southie, recalled the final game.

“We took it to them pretty good, something like 10-2,” Riva said. “It was like game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.”

Still, all the players were from the same town, same playgrounds. They weren’t strangers. “We’d put our friendships aside for the games, but we were buddies too,” said Riva.

In Riva’s junior year, Framingham High won the state title at Boston Garden, beating a Burlington High powerhouse led by future NHLer Jay Pandolfo.

“We were a low seed that year. We had an up and down season,” Riva remembered. “It took us a while to jell.”

By that time Riva had switched from forward to a blue liner. The win spread joy across Framingham.

“When the clock wound down (in the title game), we were throwing everything in the air,” Riva said. “We had a police escort home. Guys were hanging out the window.”

They were the champs. It got loud.

When Riva went to RPI, everything sped up. He was a steady point-maker, scoring 47 career goals with 73 assists. He was playing center.

“We had a high-powered offense. I liked being in the mix. The way things were trending I knew I had a possibility to play pro hockey. Speed was one of my better traits.”

Size helped. He was a six-footer at 195 pounds.  

Teams called Riva and asked if he had an agent. He didn’t. When that squared away, he joined the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL. In 1998, the journey had begun.

And it winds up in Framingham, where he was born, where he watched his brothers on ice. The kid brother decided to give it a whirl. And became that rink rat.

Riva was impressed and influenced when, as a kid, he went to the Framingham-Natick games, Loring, West Suburban Arena, arch rivals.

“You couldn’t get another person in. I’d spend the whole game leaning on the railing,” Riva recalled.

If it was superstars Peter Taglianetti (Framingham) against Richie Costello (Natick), it was high school hockey at its suburban zenith. So Spear knows the new coach will be pumped to beat Natick.

The native son has returned to his roots. To Dan Riva, Loring Arena looks like paradise. Once again, and forever.

Lenny Megliola can be reached at lennymegs41@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @lennymegs.