In a state where a warm climate encourages athletes to choose outdoor sports, ice hockey seems to be somewhat un-Californian.
Players on the West Coast who choose the ice over a more traditional sport are anomalies, but UCLA has a team full of them.
On the ice, the UCLA club hockey team faces other schools in the PAC-8 conference. Outside the rink, it must deal with the sport’s availability and costs, which players are willing to face because of their passion for the game.
Like first-year physiological science student Mark Yost, most players discovered ice hockey at a very young age. The game’s complexity requires that many basic skills ““ like skating and puck-handling ““ be mastered early on.
Inspired by his sister’s figure skating lessons, Yost was playing by the time he was 4 years old. He continued to develop through league play and lessons, and played for his high school team in San Jose. At UCLA, he had to make some quick adjustments.
“I’d look up and someone would be right in my face and they’d drop me,” Yost said. “I’ve really had to adjust to the speed of the game.”
Second-year mechanical engineering student Al Ricciardelli came from quite a different background. He grew up as a skater but is now a goalie, and hails from a town near Boston, where hockey dominates the sports scene.
“Back East, the game is so much different,” Ricciardelli said. “It’s easier to get into, and it’s the sport you grow up with.”
Though going to school in Los Angeles means competing outside of the spotlight, it also has its advantages.
“Over here, you don’t have to be incredible to be able to play,” Ricciardelli said. “The competition is much less, so you get more opportunities.”
For most of his life, second-year economics student and team captain Jonathan Lee had his heart set on playing professional hockey. He spent 11 years as a goalie, and even made it to the Eastern Junior Hockey League. He hoped to move on to the NHL, but playing at such a high caliber came with a cost.
“I felt like my pleasure became my business, and when I realized that, I didn’t want to continue that route,” Lee said. “It just became really stressful, and it just wasn’t fun anymore.”
Lee chose UCLA over several Division I schools which recruited him, including Harvard and Princeton. He said he felt that coming to UCLA meant being able to continue playing while still enjoying a complete college experience.
Bruin hockey may not be an NCAA sport, but the players take their game seriously. On campus, the team works on agility and speed with “dry land” training. Because of limited ice availability, on-ice practices are only possible in Panorama City. The weekly practices run from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., and team members don’t return until three in the morning. The scarcity of local rinks limits players in California.
“Kids in Canada, kids on the East Coast, they’ll probably have double or triple the amount of ice time that I’ve had and who are the same age as me,” Yost said.
The athletes are also aware that many UCLA students are unfamiliar with the team.
“If there’s some way we could reach out to the student body, I’m sure more people would come, more people would support us,” Lee said. “That support will help us win. Our fans always think (hockey’s) an awesome sport to watch, no doubt. It’s so fast, with lots of hitting, anything can happen.”