Washington Post, Front Page Sports Story, 2011, “Halpern Gains a Step”

Before going to sleep, Jeff Halpern would lay his workout clothes next to his bed, pack his hockey bag and sticks into the trunk of his BMW and put a bowl of cereal on the passenger seat.

It was summer 2010, and the veteran center was in search of the step he had lost after a decade in the NHL and, along the way, surgery on both knees.

Halpern went wherever, and whenever, he could rent ice time. Often that meant a pre-dawn drive to Ashburn Ice House, a 35-minute commute from his Bethesda home.