SEATTLE – Wednesday morning, when the Everett Silvertips were on their bus ride between Edmonton, Alberta, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Damir Alic was sitting at a table in room 162 of the University of Washington’s Johnson Hall.
While his Silvertip teammates were enduring the seven-hour trip prior to their game against the Saskatoon Blades, Alic was examining sedimentary rocks and analyzing their structure.
No, Alic isn’t your typical WHL player, at least where off-the-ice considerations are concerned. Alic didn’t accompany the rest of the Silvertips when they departed for their recent road trip because he’s got a busy schedule, doubling up as both a major junior hockey player and a college student.
“So far it’s gone really good,” Alic said. “I’ve got my first midterm here, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Alic, a 19-year-old center who hails from Kent, stayed behind because of a midterm test at the UW. He and left wing Ondrej Fiala, who remained behind to complete rehabilitation on his surgically-repaired knee, flew out today to meet the team in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Having to deal with hockey and school simultaneously is nothing new for WHL players. The younger guys split their time between the ice and high school. But there’s a big difference between high school and college workloads. Alic, who’s tentatively majoring in law, is taking three classes – geology, political science and German – which amounts to 12 credits. That’s the minimum to be considered a full-time student, but it’s still far more rigorous than high-school work, and it also requires Alic to commute daily between Seattle and his billets’ home in Lake Stevens.
“I think it’s impressive what he’s doing,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “He’s managing both. Every player’s career is going to end at some point, be it after a long NHL career or after his junior career, so you have to prepare for life after hockey. I think it’s a good thing he’s doing and we’re trying to make a little bit of a concession so he can accomplish both.”
The WHL has a generous scholarship program. For every season a player plays in the WHL, the league finances one year of college. Each year hundreds of former WHL players attend college on a WHL scholarship.
However, just about every player waits to take advantage of those scholarships until after their junior hockey career is over.
Alic’s situation is different. A 2005 graduate of Foster High School in Tukwila, Alic was the recipient of a Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation Washington State Achievers Scholarship, a scholarship awarded to motivated students from low-income households. The scholarship provides for all classes and expenses over a four-year period.
However, the scholarship also must be accepted within a year. Alic took one year off after graduation to play his rookie season with the Silvertips. If he wanted to take advantage of the scholarship, he needed to enroll at the beginning of this school year.
Thus Alic’s hectic schedule.
“It was a really difficult decision to make because I didn’t think I could do it,” Alic said. “It is hard, but if you do hard work it will pay off in the end.”
How hectic is Alic’s schedule?
Let him explain:
“Mondays and Fridays it’s easy, I wake up at 9 and go to school, then I go to practice at 1:30. But Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I wake up at 4:50 and get down here about 6 so I don’t hit traffic. I go to the library, which is open 24 hours, and study and do homework. Then I have two classes each day which are about an hour long. After class I go to practice and after practice I just go back to sleep.
“It’s really hard, but I fight through it.”
So far Alic’s instructors have been understanding of his hockey commitments.
“I gave all the teachers a letter from the Silvertips and they’re all big fans of the Tips, so they’re pretty easy about the schedule,” Alic said. “I can remake labs, and I have a period of two weeks to remake all my homework.”
However, one thing Alic can’t make up is tests. Therefore, Everett general manager Doug Soetaert decided it was best that Alic, who appeared in each of Everett’s first 12 games, miss the first three games of the Silvertips’ trip back east so he could take his midterm.
“It makes sense,” Soetaert said. “School is a big priority, and he’s got to be there for the midterms. We’ve got a lot of bodies, so this allows us to get someone else in the lineup. He’s got a great thing going and it makes too much sense for him to be back there and get his midterms done.”
And Alic appreciates the flexibility the Tips have shown, even if he still yearns to be on the ice.
“If it was my decision I would have stayed and taken the midterm, then maybe left a little earlier,” Alic said. “I’d rather be with my teammates, but this will pay off in the long run.”
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