Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1418303
48 OCT. 23, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TODD D. BURLAGE N otre Dame senior Graham Slaggert calls his mother, Tara, "a superhero." Little brother and Irish sophomore Landon Slaggert prefers "saint" as his term of motherly endearment. But perhaps "chauffeur extraordinaire" might be the best way to describe a dedi- cated mother who invested more than a decade of travel time to provide her sons an opportunity to play hockey at Notre Dame and keep them on track to realizing their lifelong goal of playing in the NHL. "We owe mom everything," said Landon, with sincere gratitude. "She really made this dream possible." The story begins about 12 years ago when Graham — with the help of his mother and the guidance of his father, Andy Slaggert, a well-respected 29-year Irish hockey assistant coach — seized the opportunity to play a portion of his youth hockey with Chicago Mission, an elite Triple-A developmental program. As South Bend natives, a lack of high- caliber competition and coaching lo- cally meant the Slaggert boys were un- able to pursue their lofty hockey goals close to home. So, at least twice, and sometimes three or more times a week, Tara made the four-hour round-trip drive with Graham to practices in the Windy City, a taxing task indeed. And, as if hauling Graham back and forth wasn't demanding enough, Tara eventually meshed the same routine in with Landon, and eventually with her youngest son, Carter. The three boys are separated by six years total in age — three years between each — and all followed the same youth hockey path, meaning that for 12 years, Tara han- dled the commutes at the same time hus- band Andy was coaching the Irish. Tara's routine was packing up the food and gear, picking up the boys from school, making the two-hour trek to Chicago, sitting through a 90-minute or two-hour practice inside a chilly ice arena, loading back up, driving back to South Bend, rinsing and repeating. For the Slaggert boys, those prac- tice days in Chicago began with school drop-off around sunrise and ended with arrival back home around midnight. And while this rigorous routine may seem excessive for a school-aged ado- lescent, Landon said, "no way." "It may seem like a sacrifice to some," he explained, "but if you're really serious about the commitments you make, you don't see it as a sacrifice, you see it as an opportunity, it's where you want to be." After each of the three Slaggert boys spent six years playing in Chicago, all graduated to their next stop as members of the USA Hockey National Team Devel- opment Program (NTDP), where only the best of the best compete internationally. In December, Landon won a gold medal with the NTDP team. Graham won a silver medal while in the NTDP a couple years earlier before his arrival to Notre Dame. The Slaggerts' competition schedules became so overlapped and far-reaching, Graham shared a story from 2017 when he was playing in Slovakia with the NTDP team at the world championships, while at the same time Landon was competing in Arizona with Mission for a national cham- pionship and their father was in Chicago coaching his Irish in the Frozen Four. "We've been all over the place," Graham said. "It's definitely been hectic at times." Carter, a 16-year-old high school junior, recently began his NTDP stint — an all-hockey on-location gig near Detroit that required all three of the Slaggert boys to move away from South Bend and board with foster families. Carter's advancement from Mission in Chicago to the NTDP brought an end to Tara's chauffeuring duties, and a new chapter for three simultaneously bud- ding hockey careers. BACK HOME AGAIN With their youth league travel and experiences behind, both Graham and Landon said that playing and study- ing at the university where their father coaches and they grew up loving made for an easy college decision. The irony is that the three-year age difference between Graham and Landon meant that outside of the living room, driveway or local ice rink growing up, they never played competitively to- gether as teammates. "Yeah, very strange," Graham said, "especially in our family." The brotherly bridge finally con- nected last year when Graham and Landon became teammates and line- mates at Notre Dame, and they played A Mother's Dedication Boosting Slaggert Brothers' NHL Dreams Landon (left, a sophomore) and Graham (right, a senior) Slaggert became teammates and linemates for the first time ever last season. Graham was Notre Dame's second-leading scorer last season with 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists), and Landon was the team's Rookie of the Year with 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists). PHOTO JEFF MEYERS/FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA ND SPORTS