No ice? No problem for the hardworking, focused Hilltoppers
Team uses other facilities to stay frosty
Most sports teams don’t have to worry about their practice facility melting.
But, then, most sports teams don’t play in an outdoor arena that is dependent upon Mama Nature to provide a chilly, nurturing environment.
The Los Alamos High School hockey team does.
The Hilltoppers’ outdoor rink, tucked among the evergreens in the town at 7,320 feet, officially closed this week because of the warm temperatures.
There are, however, plenty of games still to be played as the regular season concludes this weekend and next weekend in the league playoffs in El Paso, followed by the de facto state championship against rival Taos as the league’s only two pure teams (comprised only of players from the same high school).
So what’s a hockey player to do when the ice is yanked from beneath his feet?
For the Hilltoppers, the answer is plenty of off-ice conditioning, said coach Kevin Brake, who verbally shrugged at the loss of the team’s home.
“We’ll do conditioning, film study, strength training,” Brake said. “It does get pretty difficult when we lose our ice to work on everything, but we’re used to it.”
With a warmer than usual February, the ice issue has become increasingly difficult, he said.
“We’ve never lost the ice this early,” Brake said. “It’s been very limited ice for the last couple of weeks. It does get pretty difficult this time of year. Preseason is the same.”
To keep the edge on the skates, the Hilltoppers will make periodic excursions to Santa Fe and Taos to work out on their surfaces, he said, “just to get time on the ice, stay comfortable on the puck and keep the rust off.”
For the players, it’s just business as usual.
“We’re a hardworking team,” said junior center and captain Ben Rees. “We work together well and, when that comes together, we really play well.”
So dealing with a little issue like not having anywhere to practice is no big deal, he said.
“We’re a team that can deal with adversity,” said Rees, who leads the team in scoring, with nine goals and eight assists. “We’re going to be practicing at other venues and continuing to improve for the rest of the season.”
It’s just something to which the Hilltoppers have grown accustomed.
“Having an outdoor rink, we’ve grown up doing this at the beginning of the season and the end of the season. Everyone is willing to put in the extra time to keep getting better.”
If Los Alamos does continue to get better, the rest of the league will have its work cut out as the ’Toppers are 9-5-0 and have the third-best winning percentage in the league. What’s more, they handed frontrunning Durango one of its only two losses.
And that comes from the team’s willingness to do whatever it takes to win, Brake said.
“We have some very strong leadership from a work ethic standpoint,” he said. “And a lot of the team is willing to jump on board. When you have just a few players willing to work hard, it’s not easy at this age group to really get 100 percent.”
The attitude stems from leaders like Rees, Ben Roback, Brett Ireland and Charlie Christensen.
“This year’s team has very good chemistry among the group,” Brake said. “Everybody seems to be on track for a single goal. We’ll work for each other and make some sacrifices.”