Junior goalie Dan Loftus and his brother, Chris, a sophomore attackman, grew up in Syosset, Long Island, sons of Barbara and Brian, a retired New York City fireman who worked 36 straight hours at the World Trade Center immediately after the attacks on Sept. 11. "I thought that was the worst day of my life," Brian says. "You want to know something? This is the worst thing."
Like most of the parents, the Loftuses had grilled their sons. "How many times did I say to him on the phone? 'Danny, did anything happen?'" Brian Loftus says to Barbara one weekend in May. "I asked him 10 times. He goes, 'No, no, no, no.'"
"This is not a time to lie and cover up for your friends!" Barbara remembers chiming in. "Did anything happen?"
Over Easter weekend, convinced of their sons' innocence but terrified it wouldn't matter, "we sat here like zombies," Brian says. "I didn't want to talk to anybody."
Thanks. I knew it was something like that. Bless them.