The ECHL is filled with players who’ll freely admit that if they don’t ascend to the NHL – or at least the American Hockey League – they’ll be bitterly disappointed.

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Maybe there was a time, about 16 months ago, when Jack Quinlivan was like them. He’d worked his keister off through a five-year career at the University of Maine to make it to professional hockey and, like most rookies coming into the ECHL in 2022, he wanted to see how far he could take it.

But his perspective, in the wake of a successful battle against thyroid cancer, certainly has changed.

“I was always someone who was just trying to prove myself, and I just always wanted to be better and better than I was,” said Quinlivan, 27, who is in his second season as a forward with the ECHL’s Worcester Railers. “I still have that same work ethic, but my mindset has kind of switched to where I’m just kind of like, ‘I’m just going to enjoy where I’m at right now.’ If things don’t work out, that’s fine.

“There are a lot more important things in life to me, whether it’s my health or my family. I have all the friends and family in the world that I want and that I need. Hockey is just something I do, and have fun doing, and I’m working really hard at it. 

“If I have some success in this sport, great. If I don’t, that’s fine. I work hard at it, and I’m learning trying to adapt. If things don’t work out, that’s fine, but at least I tried and had fun doing it.”

Quinlivan, 6 feet, 194 pounds, isn’t a player who’s going to blow you away with his statistics. 

He played 123 college games for Maine between 2017 and 2022 and totaled four goals and 15 points. 

With Worcester, he’s skated in 27 games over two ECHL seasons. He’s now got a clean bill of health after his cancer fight and recovering from a broken ankle – and has totaled four goals and seven points.

JACK QUINLIVAN PUTS US AHEAD 5-4 WITH LESS THAN 5 MINUTES TO GO! ?#RailersHC pic.twitter.com/7lFbmvkbAl

— Worcester Railers (@RailersHC) February 3, 2024

He’s had some picturesque moments, such as the only goal of a seven-round overtime shootout when the Railers defeated the host Fort Wayne Komets 4-3 on Jan. 20, and many examples of grit. 

On Thursday, the night before I spoke to him, Quinlivan leveled the Orlando Solar Bears’ Jérémie Biakabutuka along the boards and then fought him, though the Railers lost the road game 4-0.

“My game is just bringing energy every game, and a lot of consistency,” Quinlivan said. “Definitely, being a 200-foot player is something I take pride in, just being someone who’s physical, night in and night out, and can create some offense from that physicality. … I just want to bring constant energy and help the team any way I can.”

That style of play literally may have saved Quinlivan’s life.

In December 2022, Quinlivan delivered a thunderous open-ice check to the Idaho Steelheads’ Christian Evers, but Quinlivan wound up giving himself a whiplash concussion. 

The Railers’ Wayne Penniman, who is the rehabilitation coordinator, soon noticed a bulge around Quinlivan’s throat and, after determining it wasn’t something muscular, sent Quinlivan for an ultrasound. That led to a biopsy and a thyroid cancer diagnosis in January 2023.

Quinlivan had surgeries in February and April to remove his thyroid and masses in his lymph nodes, and he was treated with radioactive iodine in pill form.

“Honestly, I wasn’t looking toward playing while all this was going on,” said Quinlivan, who hails from Shrewbury, Massachusetts, which is just outside Worcester. “I was just more concerned with getting healthy. But I will say, I enjoyed watching the (Railers) and being a part of the team last year, while I was going through all this.”

Quinlivan’s neck hurt terribly from the surgeries, and he was weak – May was an especially tough time – but watching the Stanley Cup playoffs started to put hockey back on his mind. 

He worked hard over the summer to get back into shape. He had to relearn his body, which bounced back with extra weight and still carries scars on the neck, and he had to adjust to the medications that replace hormones that would have been produced by his thyroid.

The Railers, who re-signed Quinlivan in September, stashed him on injured reserve until Nov. 11, which was 10 games into the season, and then he broke his ankle blocking a shot in his third game. That cost Quinlivan another two months of hockey.

The Railers (21-20-6) are in the fourth, and final, playoff position in the North Division with 25 games left in the regular season.

“Overall, from where we started this year to where we are now, there’s definitely been a lot of improvement in our game,” Quinlivan said. “I think that’s a testament to the guys buying into what the coaches are saying, and (head coach Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman) is putting us into position to succeed in the way that we want to play. Some games, the results just aren’t there, but overall, it’s a younger team, and we’re still learning how to win in this league.”

Quinlivan has an accounting degree from Maine and is working on his Master of Business Administration, though he doesn’t know what he wants to do after his playing career is done – or when that will be. 

He feels fortunate to have time he might not have otherwise had without being concussed and learning of the cancer growing in his body.

“I might not have even noticed this until there was a huge, like, bone sticking out of my throat,” he said. “The way the cancer was spreading – it’s what they call a tall-cell variation – it spreads pretty quickly. Luckily, it didn’t get into any other parts of my body. It could have mutated and gotten worse. That injury, it could have saved my life, or it saved me from much worse cancer treatments or surgeries. I think everything happens for a reason, whether it’s good or bad, and I’m fortunate for that incident.”

Quinlivan isn’t married, but he has a longtime girlfriend, and his message to others is that if something doesn’t feel right in their bodies, they should go get checked by a doctor without hesitation. Weeks, even days, can make a difference.

“I’m lucky this wasn’t a much more severe thing,” he said, noting that there are things you cannot control and “it’s how you deal with them.”

Hockey – its community and the goal to play again – helped Quinlivan through difficult times. 

He’s more low-key about the importance of winning games or making it to the next level, but he has a greater appreciation for the sport itself and the joy it can bring.

“I definitely do,” he said. “I have a lot more appreciation for the sport, like, the enjoyment of it. Before this whole thing, it was more something I was trying to achieve or become. Now, I’m just enjoying playing and going out and having fun, and I think it’s given me better results, honestly.”