Not all heroes wear capes some use hockey sticks. A hockey stick was just what Cory Hemberger needed to get two boys out of the freezing waters of Afton Lake in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
It was a typical Sunday afternoon for Cory and his friend, Shawn Miller. They were playing pond hockey on the frozen Afton when they heard screams for help. On the way home, Cory saw a 13-year-old boy fall into the chilly water of the frozen lake. His friend tried to help him, but sadly, he fell into the frigid water as well.
Something got into Cory and he immediately rushed to help the boys. “I was kinda just in the moment. My adrenaline was going. My heart was pumping, so I just went for it and just hoped God was with me,” he recalled.
Thankfully, Tim Miller, Cory’s dad, was nearby, and he saw what happened. “When I jumped out of my truck, and I started running down, down the trail, after, you know, I called 911 as I’m going,” he said.
Cory used his hockey stick to great use. He used it to reach out to the helpless, shivering boys to get them out of the icy water. But, it was not an easy feat. “Right when I was on the edge reaching my stick out, I could hear the ice cracking, so I said, ‘Alright, we gotta do this quick, so I don’t fall in, too,” this young hero narrated. Thank God, the two boys were saved. They were very cold and shivering when they got out, but they refused to seek medical attention.
Cory was not just helpful, he is an unassuming and humble young man as well. So humble that he did not even bother to tell his mom, Lisa Hemberger, about what happened. The next day, her attention was drawn to a Facebook post with the title, “Not all heroes wear capes, some play ice hockey.” She said, “I’m like, “Oh, my kids play ice hockey, let me look at that.”
She then realized that the post was uploaded by the mom of one of the boys her son helped. Lisa reached out to her. “She wanted to just thank me for his heroic efforts, and that her son’s okay, and without Cory being there, she doesn’t know what would’ve happened,” the proud mom said.
The grateful mom of one of the boys even offered to buy something for Cory, but this kind-hearted teen refused and said, “I said, ‘I don’t need anything. Because I know if I were in that situation, I would want somebody to help me too.”
Guess it will not take much to help somebody. We just need faith in God, and a tender heart to make someone’s life a bit better. Cory used whatever he had at that crucial moment to save not just one but two valuable lives with what was in his hand–a hockey stick.
“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.” Proverbs 3:27
