Said Mike Dow: “We always encourage our children to be humble and work hard.”

Dow plans on spending a postgraduate year somewhere locally while waiting for his college options to expand.

There is always room to grow, he figures.

Now, back to the basement.

Framingham says thank you to Brown

Bobby Brown thought he was ready to retire in 2000 when Framingham varsity coach Paul Spear asked him to join his coaching staff. Brown declined, but three years later when another job opened up, Spear asked again, and Brown could not say no.

“It started in the 1960s — he was the person involved with the evolution of Framingham youth hockey,” Spear said. “He just loves hockey, loves being at the rink, being a part of it. He just became this grandfather-type guy down at the rink where it seemed everybody knew him.”

Brown coached on Spear’s staff from 2003 to this winter, when he was finally forced to hang up the skates following a battle with prostate cancer.

Framingham honored the longtime coach with a pregame ceremony and plaque before Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Braintree at Loring Arena.