Eagle club hockey nests in new rec center

Players from the EWU Hockey Club should find themselves logging considerably shorter driving hours next year since the opening of the University Recreation Center will give the Eagles a home venue to hang up their skates.

"The big thing is that we get to play on campus," said EWU Head Coach Gary Braun. "It reminds me of the old (Spokane) Coliseum, it has that same kind of feel."

The University Recreation Center boasts an NHL-size rink, according to Braun, and will be fully capable of hosting the games despite rumors to the contrary.

"Ice is not the issue," he said. Braun and the team are looking forward to playing in what they hope is a packed house. The rec center has a capacity of 1,000 permanent seats and is one of the few on-campus venues in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), the organization that the Eagles play within.

"It's not a common thing, that's for sure," said Braun.

The EWU Hockey Club is certainly a program on the rise; not only do they have a brand new place to play in but they also have advanced to the ACHA Division 2 national tournament for the past two years. Braun, who played seven years of professional hockey and helped coach the Spokane Chiefs to their 1990-1991 Memorial Cup title, said that the credit of the Eagles' success falls squarely on the shoulders of the players.

"I can count with my fingers how many times they've missed practices," said Braun. Since EWU hockey is a club, players paid $1,900 in dues last year (plus $600 to go to nationals), to help supplement the financial stability of the team. They've had to juggle their academics as well. "They've done a great job, we've had no less than eight guys on the Dean's list," said Braun.

Then there's the issue of traveling on the road, something that's been a problem with other club teams but not so much with the players at EWU, said Braun.

"Our guys have always been able to work that out," he said.

Since the ice arena that the Eagles used to play at was in Spokane, they'd have to go through early morning practices and late night games since ice time has become a very sparse commodity in the Inland Northwest.

"We had issues - we never got prime time ice," said Braun.

Games were usually held at 10:30 p.m., meaning that after the game, fans and players would have to drive home very early in the morning.

"It's kind of hard to get people to drive 45 minutes to watch a hockey game and then leave at one or two in the morning," said Mike Truex, the president of the EWU Hockey Club.

However, that hasn't discouraged the Eagles, who have overcome the scheduling conflicts to become one of the best collegiate hockey programs in the western United States. Their commitment and love of the game has gotten them through tough times and will hopefully transfer well to the new rink.

"(Hockey is) highly addictive, it's something people never give up," said Truex.

Despite their remote location far from campus, the EWU hockey team still brought in about 600 spectators for a game according to Truex, and they expect that number to increase easily to the rec center's capacity of 1,000 a game, since it's much closer to the students.

"There's so much excitement that's built up," said Truex. "It's a lot different than the concrete b-ball courts that used to be there."

The team will hit the ice for the first time this Thursday (May 8) during the rec center's grand opening in a one-period Red-White intersquad scrimmage at 2 p.m. The ice will then be opened for a public skate.

But before the puck has even been dropped, the Eagles are feeling the effects of having the new venue.

"There's even people that didn't play last year but are waiting to try out this year because of the facility," said Truex. In terms of recruiting, coach Braun and Truex agree that not having the commute into Spokane and playing in an on-campus venue in front of a thousand fans is a much better sell.

"That's going to give instant credibility," said Braun.

The club already features players from a wide variety of backgrounds along with a large stable of in-state guys. Truex, who's originally from California, played collegiate hockey for Nicholls College in Boston before coming to EWU. Everett native and Club Treasurer Bill Shaw also played collegiate hockey in the state of Massachusetts prior to becoming an Eagle. There are three Canadian players on the team as well as players from several other states including Alaska and Montana.

Truex said that it's a big draw for Canadian players to come to EWU because they don't have to pay international student tuition prices.

"We're trying to take this potentially to the next level," said Truex. "We want to be a national competitor."

Truex hopes that someday the hockey club could become a sport supported by the EWU Athletic Department. That would mean that access to funding, trainers, support staff and equipment wouldn't fall on the responsibility of the players.

"We kind of have to do it on our own now," said Truex. "We pay so much money to play, it would kind of be a waste to miss practice."

Next year, the Eagles are scheduled to play the University of Washington for the season home opener and they're also planning some charitable events for the Shriner's Children's Hospital and the fight against breast cancer.