HANCOCK — Sometimes sports is put in perspective by bigger things in life.

Saturday was one of those days.

Traverse City Central scored early and often in a 7-2 win over Hancock on Saturday. But the game was overshadowed by a pregame ceremony honoring Barry Givens, a longtime Hancock hockey supporter undergoing cancer treatments. His fight with cancer had him in the hospital Saturday, unable to attend the ceremonial puck drop and game.

Givens’ brother Chris, longtime head coach of Traverse City Central, left Houghton County Arena with the win, but said the game felt like a footnote the day after visiting him in the hospital.

“I went to the hospital (Friday) and visited with him for a few minutes. It gives hockey a different perspective,” Chris said. “You certainly want to come up here and you want to win, but when you’re sitting in the hospital room and he’s talking about the kinds of days he has, it kind of puts it all in perspective. It doesn’t quite make the game so important. A little dose of perspective is good for everybody from time to time. I certainly got mine yesterday.”

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