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Sidelines

Newly re-formed U Hockey Club

Back to the Ice Age

by John Youngren

This fall, as the University of Utah’s new semester was getting under way and students were returning to campus, the U of U’s hockey club was also gearing up, holding intensive tryouts, looking for corporate sponsors, and trying to pull a schedule together.

Big deal? Absolutely. While having players try out for a club sport at the U might not normally seem like anything special, it certainly was in the case of hockey. For this year, after a forced hiatus that extended to three years, the U finally reinstated its club hockey team, which is scheduled to join BYU, Utah State, Weber State, and UVSC in the Division II level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).

The club, once known as the “Skatin’ Utes,” was flying high following the 2002-03 season, which they finished with a 17-12-5 record. The team had played the season on the ice sheets at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex on nearby Guardsman Way and was drawing impressive support on campus and throughout the local hockey community.

The Skatin’ Utes were looking forward to even bolder success the following season: The team had agreed to join the Division I-caliber “Hockey West” league, getting the chance to play in a five-team ACHA league, which was originally intended to include Colorado State, Arizona State, Weber State, and the University of Arizona.

But it all blew up in March of 2003, just two months after the new league was announced. That’s when a host of violations caught up with the Utes, and the program was placed on a two-year suspension by the U of U administration.

The move effectively disbanded the fledgling team at a crucial point in its history and left the U without a hockey program despite great interest around the state.

But by mid-September 2006, the new Utah hockey club had begun its 25- to 35-game schedule, with a roster of players assembled from scratch during the team’s tryouts and early practices. The team’s first game was tough—they lost by a wince-inducing 18-3 in their season-opener at Utah State. And depth was an issue—only 15 suited up for the game. But the team has high hopes; the new Utes—avoiding the tainted “Skatin’ Utes” moniker for now—are a mix of talented high school graduates, amateur players, and existing U students who may have hung up their skates for a few years but now want back in the game (only one on the opening-night roster, Mike Wilcox, had collegiate hockey-playing experience).

Putting all that together—not to mention dealing with new club by-laws, a new constitution, a schedule, uniforms, and practice facilities, to name just a few of the myriad details—has been a chore.

Team President J.M. LeCointreAnd, season-opener aside, winning actually isn’t even the top priority, according to all those involved. Just being there is. “Even in the worst-case scenario, at least we actually have a team,” says U student J.M. LeCointre, who, along with fellow student and hockey player Jason Petho, became the self-appointed leaders of an effort to reinstate Utah’s hockey club. “We had a lot of friends who were going elsewhere to play hockey. It was frustrating, because they couldn’t play here [at the U].”

Nearly everyone involved with the current club avoids extensive comment on the past problems of the Skatin’ Utes. According to various reports at the time, the team had run up more than $20,000 in assorted debts (hockey is one of the most expensive sports for an individual athlete to participate in; LeCointre estimates that it’ll cost around $1,500 for players to suit up this year). While much of that money was later recouped by the team and its fundraising efforts, the hockey club was still technically in debt when the U pulled the plug.

There were other violations that led to the Skatin’ Utes’ suspension: A player with a private pilot’s license flew his family’s plane to a Utah road game—a violation that put the University at risk because the team didn’t clear the travel plan with Campus Recreation Services beforehand. An auto accident on a Colorado road trip caused some $8,000 in damages to a van the team was using—also charged to the club. And, there was at least one incident in which a Utah player allegedly got into a physical altercation with a fan.

The infractions added up: The Skatin’ Utes were already on probation, and campus officials had seen enough. It would be more than two years before anyone got interested in doing much about hockey again.

“Our clubs are offered as a vehicle for students to not only compete, but also to gain learning experience outside of the classroom,” says Mary Bohlig, director of Campus Recreation Services, which oversees the U’s 15 club sports, from cycling to water polo.

Student athletes, even club athletes, are reasonably held to a higher standard than students less frequently in the public eye because they’re representing the University and need to create a positive general impression in all endeavors.

“Leadership, teamwork, time management, and making positive contributions to the University community [are all expectations],” Bohlig says.

After the Skatin’ Utes’ suspension was lifted, LeCointre and Petho got together and began a yearlong process of meeting with U administrators, lawyers, Campus Recreation staff, and other officials to discuss the possibility—remote at first, then more and more realistic—of resuscitating U of U hockey.

“The suspension had expired,” Bohlig notes. “And there was no hesitation to give the [hockey] club another chance. [But] we wanted to make sure that all the people [associated] with the suspension were [also] involved in setting parameters and meeting with the new student leaders regarding past problems and expectations.”

That’s what took a little doing, LeCointre says. “A lot of the response we got about bringing the program back had to do with the [U of U officials’] trust in us; but the more they talked to us, the more they began to realize what we’re trying to do with this team, and they let us go ahead with it.” Easier said than done.

Once the club was reinstated, much of its promotion—inviting players to tryouts, generating sponsor interest, communicating practice and meeting times—had to be done by word of mouth.

In a nod to the modern era, the new Utah hockey club has created a Web page on the popular MySpace.com (Utah hockey is single and a Gemini, if you’re wondering).

Further complicating things, no players involved with the suspended Skatin’ Utes could play without being assessed a percentage of the outstanding debt the disenfranchised club still owes.

“We did [give the new team] the opportunity to bring back former players, but with some stipulations attached,” Bohlig explains.

But there hasn’t been a lot of interest from the past players, says LeCointre. Even so, he’s been delighted to find initial interest—nearly 60 players expressed enthusiasm about a new opportunity to compete—and support across campus as the Utah hockey club got down to business.

“I think that as this program grows and [becomes] a solid member of the University community, you will see the interest grow,” says Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics and Anesthesiology Steven Kern, who signed up as faculty advisor and helped the team recruit its coach, Bob Wilkinson. “Our objective for the first season is to have a second season. We will build this one step at a time.”

“People have been very supportive,” says LeCointre, who, paradoxically, wasn’t able to play with the team initially because of an injured shoulder, focusing instead on his newfound administrative duties (basically serving as the team’s president). “All we want to do is create a team that isn’t going to dissolve every three years. Hopefully, nobody in the future will have to do what we had to do to get it going again.”

Adds Bohlig, “We anticipate that the new group of students leading the hockey club will do the right things to bring the team to the level of conduct and competition that many of our other clubs present.”

So, the question is: Is hockey settled in for a long and happy life at the U?

“That’s something to shoot for,” LeCointre says.

Presumably, no pun intended.

—John Youngren BA'88 works in advertising for Love Communications in Salt Lake City and has written many previous articles for Continuum

Utah Hockey MySpace Page

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