Mark Anthoine Sr. has two children playing college-level hockey and the two-hour car rides are what he cherishes most.

“They can’t get away. They have to talk to you,” said Anthoine, the father of four hockey players — a 3-year-old, two teenagers and one young adult.

The unpopular road trips that hockey parents have to accept every weekend are what Anthoine remembers most. Being locked in the car for extended periods of time forced his children to talk to their parents, he said.

It’s not about the hockey for Anthoine. “I assumed the kids would all play basketball,” the former Bowdoin College hoops player said. “I can’t even skate.”

Anthoine’s two oldest, Mark Jr., 21, and Connor, 18, watched the Disney hockey film, “The Mighty Ducks,” 15 years ago, and early morning ice time has been the norm ever since. “Every weekend becomes a family event,” Mark Sr. said.

“I don’t know what I would do on my weekends without hockey,” Katherine, Anthoine’s 16-year-old daughter, said.

Anthoine said success on the ice could not happen without the help of others. Mark Jr. plays for the Maine Black Bears and Connor passed up an opportunity to play for the Lewiston Maineiacs so he could keep his eligibility at the University of Vermont.

“It takes a neighborhood, friends and family to raise a hockey player,” said Anthoine, who described the area around his home at 21 Buttonwood Lane as “old-school neighborhood” where Lewiston neighbors help get kids to practice on time.

Friends and neighbors continue to support the Anthoine family. Mark Jr. has so many people wanting to watch his team on the ice that he has to ask his teammates for any extra tickets they may have before each game.

“I am known for having an entourage of people who come to watch,” he said. His following will consist of 50 people coming to see Maine play in the “Frozen Fenway” outdoor game in January. “The friends I made through hockey are the best friends that I have,” Connor said.

“One kid could be playing in Vermont and one in New Hampshire,” Anthoine said.

“The kids on my team call dad the road warrior,” Connor said. “He’s been to all of them.”

That’s 40 to 50 games he and his brother play in each year.

Before each game, Anthoine will send the text message “stretch, hydrate and go 110 percent.” Anthoine estimates that his boys have played in 700 games each since the “Mighty Duck” viewing.

He said the trick was to keep his younger kids occupied during games so he could watch the two oldest play. Katherine would paint the nails of players’ moms for $1.

“You meet all these great people that I still keep in touch through Facebook,” Katherine said. Like her father, she tries to be at every one of her brothers’ match-ups. “I love it,” said the player on the 2009 Lewiston High School state championship team.

The youngest Anthoine, 3-year-old Kellen, can recite the pre-game national anthem on his own and pretends Christmas ornamental figures are the fans of his and his mother’s table hockey games.

“Deb is the toughest goalie in knee hockey,” Anthoine said of his wife.

“Hockey becomes a lifestyle,” Anthoine said. “It’s pretty much our way of life. It’s the hockey grind. You love it. You live it.”