Brown wrestles tumor to the mat
Six years ago, Canton wrestler Aaron Brown was worried about his life after learning he had a brain tumor.
Now he's focused on winning his fourth Section 10 individual championship Saturday at Canton high school and placing in the state tournament.
Brown, a Hermon-DeKalb student who wrestles at Canton as part of a merger agreement, started experiencing troubles in the seventh grade during wrestling season.
He began suffering from double vision, and his eyes wouldn't move upward. He sought medical help and was told he had a brain tumor.
"One of my teachers' dogs had a tumor and it had just died right before that, so I was really freaked out," Brown said.
Radiation treatments eventually eliminated the tumor and Brown was back on the wrestling team in the eighth grade. But to this day he still has problems with double vision, which forced him to give up playing baseball.
"It hasn't really healed," Brown said of his symptoms. "The tumor is gone, but I have the after-effects."
The double vision hasn't kept Brown from becoming one of the top wrestlers in Section 10. A 5-foot-6, 109-pound senior, Brown recently picked up his 100th career win and went undefeated this year in Northern Athletic Conference matches.
"He's gone through more in his young age than most people have in their lifetime," Canton coach John Clark said. "In the last half of eighth grade he got cleared and we were surprised. We have to be very careful with him, but he has remarkable skills, technically."
Brown's older brother, Steve, was the first Hermon-DeKalb student to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship, and he wrestles at Central Michigan.
Having his support, as well as the support of his teammates, was immeasurable for Brown during his trauma.
"The wrestling team was amazing," Brown said. "At sectionals that year they did a 50-50 (raffle) for me, because I was going to Vermont every day (for treatment) and coming back home so I could keep up with schoolwork."
Brown was hoping to follow his older brother to Division I, but he's beginning to think that won't happen. If not, he'd like to attend SUNY Cortland, which competes at the Division III level.
"(Steve) really did inspire me to try to do a little more my senior year and work a little harder," Brown said. "(Considering) how small I am, I was hoping for scholarships, but I wasn't really expecting them."
As for the brain tumor, and living with double vision, Brown can see the positive in his problems.
"I think a lot of good has come out of it," Brown said. "I didn't really pay attention much to that stuff. Now I realize how much people can go through and a lot of people are worse off."
IS THIS THE VIKINGS YEAR?
The Section 10 hockey playoffs start this week and Thousand Islands earned the top seed in Division II after posting a 10-5-1 mark in divisional play.
The Vikings, who are 14-7-2 overall, will host a semifinal game at 1 p.m. Saturday. If they win that game, they'll advance to the championship game Tuesday at Cheel Arena.
But longtime Vikings coach Joe Eppolito doesn't think his team can expect an easy trip to Potsdam.
"We're not confident at all," Eppolito said. "Our league was so tight this year. It all depends on who prepares best this week. It's going to be a dogfight."
As the top seed, the Vikings will host the lowest-seeded team left after today's two quarterfinal games. If the favorites win, that means rival Alexandria (11-12-1, 7-8) will play the Vikings on Saturday.
Alexandria beat the Vikings 3-2 in the championship game of the Alexandria Tournament in December and also beat them 4-2 on Feb. 8. The Vikings knocked Alexandria off 4-0 last Wednesday.
"It's a huge rivalry," Eppolito said. "They are the only team in our league we've lost to twice. Whenever the two communities get together its always a battle."
ROUTE 11 RIVALRY
Potsdam was the dominant team for most of the season, but slipped into the second seed in the tournament largely due to a 0-0 tie with Ogdensburg Free Academy on Jan. 31.
The Sandstoners (20-2-1, 11-1-1) will host rival Canton (13-9-2, 9-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday in a semifinal game. Canton has gone 9-3 in its last 12 games, but has not scored a goal against Potsdam yet this season, losing 4-0 and 2-0.
"Even when I watched them early in the year, I thought (Canton) was going to be a tough team at the end of the year," said Potsdam coach Al Benda, who lives in Canton. "They're somebody that could sneak in and bite two teams in the butt."
Benda, a former Golden Bear assistant, has an interesting take on the rivalry, which can be as intense as the college rivalry between Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
"People don't realize that it's not life or death, it's not a war or anything," Benda said. "A lot of the kids on the Potsdam team are friends with kids on the other teams. They've been playing regional hockey together. They put it in perspective now. We play hard, but it's a game."
Sportswriter Cap Carey covers Northern Athletic Conference sports for the Times. You may reach him at ccarey@wdt.net
