A hockey stick in his left hand and a large black bag slung
awkwardly over his right shoulder, Carlos Cazares walked through a
dimly lit, desolate parking lot towards his car. He opened the
door, stuck the key in the ignition, and glanced at the clock.
It’s a few minutes past 1 a.m. “Earliest I’ve
gone home this year,” he said. Cazares and his sleep-deprived
teammates on the UCLA club ice hockey team practice two nights a
week at the HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo starting at
11 p.m. They don’t actually leave the ice until close to 1
a.m., when the arena lights dim and the Zamboni driver actually
lugs the nets off the ice. The night-owl practice schedule
certainly isn’t ideal, but premium ice time in Los Angeles is
expensive. So unless the Bruins find a more convenient two-hour
block of time that is affordable and does not conflict with their
morning classes, they will continue to burn the midnight oil.
“Bottom line is we’re just a bunch of guys who love to
play hockey,” Cazares said. “Nobody else is going to
stay up until 3 in the morning just to practice and then wake up at
6 a.m. and go to class.”
Long nights Even though UCLA practices on the
same ice as the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, its most recent
preseason late-night scrimmage against Chapman University on Monday
night wasn’t exactly glamorous. Just a handful of fans
huddled together in the bleachers as the Bruins spilled out of a
cramped, foul-smelling locker room and piled onto the ice. By the
end of the first period, a janitor had already started sweeping up
the trash in the aisles, and several of the remaining patrons
couldn’t help but stifle a yawn as the clock ticked past
midnight. But it’s not the atmosphere that keeps UCLA
motivated. It’s the camaraderie and the competition.
“It’s an honor for most of us to be out here,”
team president Eric Allen said. “Everyone here loves the
sport and loves UCLA. It doesn’t matter that we don’t
get a scholarship, free equipment or notoriety on campus.” Or
much sleep. Allen, who works at the UCLA Department of Medicine in
the mornings, usually takes classes in the afternoon before
returning to his apartment to eat dinner and get ready for
practice. By the time his day is over, the sun is almost up again.
“You have so much adrenaline and so much lactic acid built up
in your muscles that you can’t fall asleep right away,”
Allen said. “It’s hard. You have to let the jitters go
away. You usually don’t get to sleep until 3 or 4 in the
morning.” Allen is one of the lucky ones who at least get
some rest. Several of the Bruins, including Cazares, have 8 a.m.
classes. Cazares says he’s often so exhausted from practice
that he’ll occasionally pull an all-nighter afterwards just
to make sure he doesn’t sleep through his early class. UCLA
volunteer coach Michael Kelly also has it rough. Kelly, who
returned to the Bruins after a four-year stint coaching the program
in the early 1990s, often arrives at his Santa Monica home after
practice at around 2 a.m. only to wake up three hours later and
drive to work. “I drink a lot of coffee and take a lot of cat
naps,” Kelly said. “But the guys are making it worth
it.”
Coming Together If the Bruins were tired during
Monday night’s scrimmage against Chapman, they did a good job
hiding it. Overwhelming the undermanned visitors with superior
discipline and skill, UCLA scored a pair of goals in the opening
five minutes and scratched out a 12-3 victory. Once the regular
season starts in two weeks, it won’t be nearly that easy.
UCLA, 7-17 a year ago, plays in the Pac-8 conference against some
of the West Coast’s most successful hockey programs. USC,
perhaps the region’s best team, beat the Bruins all five
times they played last year. The closest margin of victory was
11-4. “None of my guys are going to go off and play in the
pros,” Kelly joked. Many of the Bruins didn’t play in
junior circuits or in high school because hockey wasn’t
offered where they grew up. Several of them just picked up the
sport this fall, and are still learning how to skate at the
collegiate level. They learned quickly a few weeks ago when UCLA
held a mini-camp in preparation for its upcoming season. It was a
grueling 10-day series of practices, conditioning, and weight
training designed to weed out the players who weren’t
dedicated enough. To say the least, it worked. “Three or four
guys came out for the first practice that we haven’t seen
since,” Allen said. “In years past, we’ve had
football players try out. They’ll get hit so hard they
don’t want to play anymore.” The 33 players who remain
on the team are as diverse as any campus organization. Some are
humanities students. Some are science students. A few are even
graduate students. Each member of the team pays $1,400 dues to be
able to play. That money is used to pay for transportation, lodging
and ice time. The Bruins also receive $4,000 from the UCLA
Recreation Department, charge $4 per ticket at home games, and
enlist the help of a number of stable local sponsors. Allen, vice
president Scott Freschet, and treasurer Ryan Speelman tackle most
of the financial issues, but the rest of the team is well aware of
the money crunch. That’s why hardly any of the players
complain about the practice time. They know it’s saving all
of them money.
Playing in obscurity Considering the sports
climate in Southern California, it’s easy to see how UCLA
hockey is overlooked. The Bruins haven’t been very good.
Plus, they play at a school that captured four national
championships last season and puts most of its resources into
promoting basketball and football. “I have friends who ask
when UCLA got a hockey team,” Cazares said. “People
don’t know the history our program has.” UCLA began
playing ice hockey in 1926. The Bruins first faced USC in 1928, and
the two schools now battle five times per year for a trophy known
as the Crosstown Cup. Late-night practices, however, are new this
year. In the past, UCLA would secure ice time early in the morning
when prices were also cheap. That made attending morning classes
almost impossible and limited the number of players who were
willing to try out for the team. Even as he gets into his car after
the scrimmage at 1:15 a.m., Cazares says he doesn’t miss the
early morning practices. He likes the night life. The checking. The
skating. The dark nights and desolate freeways on the long drive
home. “This is my third year playing the sport,” said
Cazares, who played football in high school. “I have friends
who ask me how I can play so late at night, but most of them
understand. I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team, even
if it means playing until 2 a.m.”