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Take a poll of North Stars fans, asking which players they were most excited to see reunite during Saturday's alumni game, you were liable to hear the names of Mike Modano and Neal Broten, maybe Bobby Smith and Dino Ciccarelli.Ask Jeff Tate, and the answer is Tom McCarthy.As a kid growing up in Richfield, Tate's family befriended McCarthy's family that owned a fish and chip restaurants in the Twin Cities.At age 10, Jeff would bus tables and wash dishes; his entire room was filled with North Stars gear and Tom McCarthy stuff. McCarthy would come to the baseball and hockey games of Jeff and brother Mitch, give them tours of the Boston Garden locker room after he was traded to the Bruins, and once autographed a birthday cake with frosting."I was just this bright-eyed, starry-eyed kid getting to hang out with a pro athlete," Jeff Tate said. Unfortunately, the last thing many hockey fans remember about McCarthy came in 1994 -- six years after his career ended -- when he was arrested and sentenced to more than five years for driving a truck full of marijuana from California to Minnesota.What Tate, then a high school senior, remembers is how McCarthy's continued influence during the toughest time of his life helped shape Tate's life and eventual career in law enforcement.While McCarthy was in federal prison at Leavenworth and Tate was at St. Cloud State, they became pen pals. Dozens of handwritten letters wereexchanged, letters Tate saved and cherishes to this day."They were always positive, there was no, 'Poor...