Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Long Beach Municipal Ice Arena will feel a bit warmer on April 11, when members of the community gather for the 4th annual Gerrin Hagen Memorial Hockey Day. The all-day event will be hosted by the G2H Foundation in partnership with the FDNY Hockey Team Fundraiser Series and the City of Long Beach.
G2H, a local nonprofit that supports community-based charities, first-responder charities and families in need, was formed on March 2, 2023 in memory of Gerrin Hagen.
Hagen died in January 2023 just two weeks after his 18th birthday. He was struck from behind by a motorist who ran a stop sign while attempting to pass another vehicle. Hagen was studying carpentry in the mornings at Nassau BOCES Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center — heading to his car to drive to Long Beach High School for his afternoon classes.
Well-loved by the community, Hagen spent summers on the beaches as an ocean lifeguard. As a senior defenseman, he was captain of the varsity hockey team and his travel team, the Long Island Gulls. Hagen also worked at the ice arena starting when he was 14 and had just learned how to drive the Zamboni before he died.
“He was very well respected as a fierce and technical player,” Chris Hagen said of his son. “But more importantly, he was an excellent teammate and a good human being.”
Joe Brand, the current Parks and Recreation Commissioner for Long Beach, was Gerrin’s hockey coach growing up. Brand described Hagen, a player on the Long Beach Lightning youth hockey team and a member of the high school’s 2020 state championship hockey team, as selfless and a “coach’s dream.”
“Gerrin was a special one-of-a-kind type of kid, both on and off the ice,” he said. “He always went above and beyond in whatever he did.”
In its first year, the FDNY approached Hagen’s father and uncles — Michael Hagen and William Duffy — offering to move a Saturday fundraising game in a two-game set between the FDNY’s hockey team and the Mississauga Fire Department, in Ontario. The Hagens and Duffy have served as firefighters in the department, which prompted the gesture.
“They pitched it as a memorial game for Gerrin,” Chris Hagen said. “From there, the idea really came to life.”
To put more kids on the ice this year, the youth hockey clinic offered as part of Memorial Hockey Day will have two sessions. Kids aged 6 to 8 will skate from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Nine- and 10-year-olds will skate from 11:30 a.m. to noon.
The Nassau County Police Department will play the FDNY at 2:30 p.m., and at 5 p.m., the Toronto Fire Hockey Club will face off against the Long Beach Legends Hockey Club team, the Guardians.
Other offerings include the Chuck-A-Puck contest, Bubble Ball races, T-shirt cannons, facepainting and a variety of raffle prizes — including a 50/50 raffle. Students and children are free, and a $10 donation is suggested at the door.
As the fourth Memorial Hockey Day approaches, Hagen is just as grateful as he was in previous years.
“This day personifies what my son was all about,” Hagen said. “We’re humbled and happy to be able to do it.”
