It’s the second day of 2022 and Jake Lamberty has just wrapped up two hours of hitting golf balls on a driving range while back home in Arizona.
For the Northland hockey standout, it’s his way of taking his mind off the long road ahead. He has Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is in the midst of a treatment process that includes six rounds of chemo.
He’s staying positive because he knows negativity will get him nowhere.
“Too fast, too focused is what I’ve written in my journal I’m going to get through this as fast as I can and I’m focused on getting it done,” Lamberty said. “There’s nothing else I can do. I can’t live with it, so I have to beat it.”
When Lamberty found out he had cancer in November he was shocked, but he was more concerned about his parents and how they would handle the news.
Yet, after returning home ahead of the treatments, which started in early January, he stayed active. He played golf, he skated. He’s even played video games, something he usually doesn’t do.
“I’m not a big video game person, but I’ve been getting on there and playing with friends,” Lamberty said. I’ll also do Facetime and group Zoom calls with my teammates, and talk with my coach at least once a day. Those moments take my mind off everything for that brief time.”
Lamberty was supposed to be in the middle of his second season of college hockey by now, but his year was cut short after just a few weeks because of the diagnosis.
He scored a goal in the opening game but started having pain in his chest a couple of weeks later. A cyst was found. The diagnosis was cancer.
That isn’t an easy thing to digest for a young, athletic hockey player to digest, especially one who plays the sport with all-out effort, energy and with passion that cannot be measured.
But he isn’t about to back down from the fight.
“I just have to get through it. It’s something that for four months I’m going to absolutely grind through, but you know, it’s going to make me stronger in the end,” Lamberty said.
After three rounds of chemo, a re-scan will be done, and that will be the indicator if the treatment is working. If things look good, the treatment will continue as planned.
Then, after the sixth round, if all has gone well, Lamberty is expected to be able to move on with his life as normal.
“I want to get back to school by May because there is a sports medicine class that starts then. I want to be back for it,” Lamberty said. “And my goal is to be 100% ready to play hockey next season.”
Lamberty fell in love with hockey when his uncle took him to an Arizona Coyotes game. He has been skating since he was 4 and recalls how his punishment as a child would be having his stick or shooting pad taken away.
Lamberty continued to grow as a player and landed an opportunity to play junior hockey for the Soo Eagles of the NOJHL.
That’s how he learned of Northland and the opportunity to play hockey for the Lumberjacks.
“I got on campus (for a visit) and fell in love with it,” Lamberty said. “I love being close to the lake. I’m an outdoors guy. I felt at home there.”
He considers himself a grinder on the ice and that style of play has worked out well for him.
“I like causing havoc out there, getting under the opponent’s skin, blocking shots,” Lamberty said.
His style has allowed him to adapt to life in the WIAC and NCAA Division III hockey as a whole.
“Some of the teams we play, the competition we face, it’s insane,” Lamberty said. “There some guys who can be pros somewhere after college.”
And while Northland hasn’t had it easy, winning only three of its first 18 games, Lamberty loves that his team never stops battling.
“We all have that will to fight and we’ve taken some steps forward. It’s good to see us keep pushing forward,” Lamberty said.
Lamberty can’t wait to be back with his team and fight right alongside his teammates.
He knows that he’ll come away from the adversity he’s faced with a greater appreciation for the sport.
For now, he looks forward to putting cancer in his rear-view mirror.
“I’m counting the days right now,” Lamberty said. “The perspective I’ll have and the way I look at life after it is something I’m looking forward to. I’m an easily motivated person and I feel like I’ll have that want to do even more.”
