CLUB SPORTS: Hockey player transitions

Do your chores. Clean your room. Shovel the snow off the driveway. Then you can go play hockey. Where Lane Smith is from, the surroundings are quite different. In Grand Forks, ND, the weather is cold and the roads are icy. Before you go outside, you put on gloves and a warm jacket. And most importantly, you don't forget a hockey stick. "It was very important," Smith said. "My dad played high school hockey and then club hockey in Colorado. My brother played. I played all my years growing up too. It's kind of what we did there." The sophomore club hockey defenseman at San Diego State just returned to North Dakota and found that little has changed. The heavy nuisance of a shovel is still being put to good use and snow remains imbued in the local cottonwood trees. Although Smith listened and did his chores, he could not simply go play whenever he wanted. All the local rinks were outside, and getting them ready for skating is always a more daunting task than shoveling any driveway. Unfortunately for Smith, he didn't know anyone with a zamboni. "We were always shoveling the rink off too," Smith said. "Nobody liked to do it. Shoveling the rink is a lot of work, pushing the snow to the boards and then lifting the snow over. It was actually a lot of snow." Smith talks fondly of the weather in San Diego where he never gets cold. Now he is close to the ocean and in the ideal place to pursue his dream of becoming a marine biologist. Still, there is plenty to miss nearly 2000 miles away from home. The passion for hockey that is prevalent in Smith and many others in North Dakota is largely invisible in San Diego. The cultures are simply different. "It's weird just telling people that I go to State and I play hockey," Smith said. "They are like, 'Really? There's hockey?' "Half the kids at school don't even know we have a hockey team." Despite three professional hockey franchises in the state, Smith recognizes that many schools in California don't even generate enough interest for a club hockey team. Locally, the sport has become more of an underground phenomenon. "You go to the sports bars and all of the basketball games are playing and none of the hockey games are ever on," Smith said. "In North Dakota, it's always hockey." Smith didn't come to San Diego for hockey, but for his other passion - marine biology. When he found out SDSU offers both of his favorite pastimes, the school became his logical choice. Now that he's here, he often finds himself comparing other local teams to the ones he played against in high school. Not only were many North Dakota high school teams more skilled, the crowds were also larger. Even though the Aztecs can draw between 300 and 400 fans at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, Smith remembers a more raucous environment in high school. "Hockey up there is like football down here," Smith said. "All the games are packed. Between the rival games, you can fill up the place with a couple thousand people." Unfortunately for Smith, club hockey is an expensive sport. With SDSU supporting their NCAA programs, Smith and other club hockey players must pay out of their own pockets. "It is very expensive," Smith said. "We paid $1,200 up front and then another $400 for nationals." But Smith has overcome greater obstacles to get on the ice, and at least the indoor Kroc Center has a zamboni.

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