Stricken by a heart tumor, L.I. Gulls player Richie Bovich faced long odds

Richie Bovich learned he had a tumor on his heart that would require surgery while playing with the Long Island Gulls U-12 team.

Johanna Bovich remembers being frozen with fear as she watched from the stands on that horrible Saturday last January. 

Her son Richie, just 11, had just mysteriously collapsed on the ice, and she felt powerless to aid him.

Bovich, a member of the Long Island Gulls U-12 team, was in front of the opposing team’s net attempting to redirect a shot that was taken by his teammate Logan Goodman. But the puck instead hit Richie in the chest. He said an audible “oww!” and the ref blew the whistle Richie attempted to skate back to the Gulls bench but seconds later, he crumpled to the ice.
“I thought he was skating right back to the bench, and then he collapsed,” Johanna said. “But when he did it, he did it kind of dramatically. And I was like, ‘Come on, get up. Get up.’ ”

But Richie didn’t get up.