Hockey standouts absorb reality check

They met in college and were together for eight years before getting married. Three months later, Jennifer Ferraro was diagnosed with an incurable form of stomach cancer. A year after that, she was gone -- and her husband, former NHL player Chris Ferraro, wished he was, too.

"Honestly, I didn't even want to go on anymore," said Ferraro, a center for the Las Vegas Wranglers. "I wanted my life to end because she wasn't here anymore."

Ferraro said the pain of losing his wife, who died Nov. 5, 2002, never will subside -- that "it sinks in, stays there and it never leaves" -- but he was able to overcome his dark thoughts with the love and support of friends and family, especially his twin brother, Peter, who plays alongside him on the Wranglers.

"Thank God I have a twin brother as close as anyone can be," Chris said. "I used him as strength, and he used me for strength as well, because he was not far behind me with the pain."

Peter said Jennifer was much more than a sister-in-law to him; she was one of his best friends and "the angel on top of the Christmas tree to our family."

"We were kind of always together," Peter said of himself, Chris and Jennifer, who attended the University of Maine together. "She understood the twin bond we had and didn't try to take us away from each other. We were so close."

The trio was so tight, in fact, that when it came time to plan the honeymoon, Peter assumed he'd tag along on the trip to Hawaii.

"It didn't even faze me to ask Jennifer where we were going on the honeymoon," he said.

But Chris had to draw the line on that one -- although his bride had no objections -- telling Peter "you've got to let me do this on my own."

"For a split second I was kind of offended that I wasn't going," Peter said.

The 34-year-old twin brothers formed the Jennifer Ferraro Foundation (jf-foundation.org) and have raised more than $200,000 to fight cancer.

"It's a real special feeling for us to be able to do that work," Chris said. "I know she's looking down and she's proud of it."

Besides his family, Chris credits hockey with helping him deal with his wife's death.

The twins fell in love with the sport growing up in Long Island, N.Y., during the heyday of the New York Islanders -- who won four straight Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983 -- and they honed their hockey skills through intense, one-on-one battles on their backyard ice rink.

Neighborhood kids were too intimidated to play with the ultracompetitive Ferraro boys, who made their duels more daunting by having to get by each other completely before being allowed to take a shot on net.

"We couldn't even play games up to three because it would take hours and hours and hours," Chris said. "It made it so much more challenging and intense, but it was great for us. That's where we learned our competitiveness, going against each other."

The twins won a national title together in 1993 at Maine, where their teammates included NHL star Paul Kariya. Both Ferraros were drafted in 1994 by the New York Rangers, who picked Peter in the first round and Chris in the fourth.

Peter was promoted to the Rangers late in the 1995-96 NHL season, and Chris was called up a few days later, setting the stage for their first NHL game together at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Chris had a premonition.

"I felt something in my heart," he said. "I knew something good was going to happen that night."

In the second period, the Rangers went on the power play against the Florida Panthers. NHL great Brian Leetch passed the puck to Peter Ferraro, who dropped it down to brother Chris, who, playing on just two hours' sleep, scored his first NHL goal.

"I didn't get much sleep that night either, because I was just living on adrenaline for a week straight," Chris said. "That was a pretty special time for us."

The Ferraro brothers made history as the first identical twins to play for the same NHL team. They appeared in a combined 166 NHL games and played together for the Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals -- the last time in the 2001-02 season, when Peter said Washington wanted to sign the twins to a long-term deal but didn't because Chris needed time off to care for his wife.

The brothers, who have combined for 1,064 points in 1,127 American Hockey League games, have been fortunate enough to play together in 10 of their 14 professional seasons.

Peter also played for the Boston Bruins and Chris for the Edmonton Oilers and hometown New York Islanders, but they said being separated "was very emotional" for them.

"We spent our whole lives together, and (then) we were forced to go our separate ways, which was very difficult," Chris said.

Peter said the twins talked to each other "about 25 times a day" when they were apart. Chris said the twin bond is "pretty unexplainable."

"A lot of people argue 'I've got a brother and sister and I'm real close to them,' but it's absolutely no comparison whatsoever," he said. "All the (stories) about twins feeling and thinking the same things, it's all true. We have an instinct and sense for each other."

That bond is evident on the ice, where the twins already have had a big impact on the Wranglers (8-2), teaming for 22 points.

Coaching -- together, of course -- could be in the future for the Ferraros, whose sister Michelle owns a modeling agency in Las Vegas, but they don't plan to stop playing hockey anytime soon.

"I wish we weren't as competitive as we are because then it would make the adjustment to get out of our playing career easier," Peter said. "But we love competing with a group of guys and being part of a team atmosphere."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0354.