Brett Lawrence would love to unwind with his buddies after every hockey practice, but that might make him late for class in the morning.
He’d donate his left kidney pad for a booster to give the Husky Hockey team a blank check and say, "Here you go boys, the trip to L.A. is on me."
And if anyone wants to tutor him and his teammates before finals week, Lawrence would gladly take that, too.
Welcome to the world of a University of Washington club hockey player, who survives a five-month schedule because of his passion for the sport and the willingness to dig into his own pockets.
"We’re lucky with what we have," said Lawrence, a senior accounting major from Mill Creek. "I’d rather play hockey here than play a varsity sport. I love the game so much."
Lawrence is one of three Snohomish County players on the Husky roster. He went to Jackson High School, is the team captain, leading scorer and a former American Collegiate Hockey Association All-American.
T.J. Anderson, a senior sociology major, is a burly 6-foot, 250-pound defenseman who said he was constantly badgered by coaches at Snohomish High School to play football.
Cody Vandermyn, a junior astronomy/physics major, is a first-year forward who ran track while at Cascade High School in Everett.
Husky Hockey, a band of 17 close-knit players coached by two women, is a club-level college team that plays a 26-game schedule this season, traveling as far south as Los Angeles and as far east as Fort Collins, Colo. They play 15 home games at Olympicview Arena in Mountlake Terrace, plus the Pacific-8 Conference tournament in February at Olympicview .
There’s a lot more to this program than meets the ice.
"There’s a love of the sport from all of us," head coach Cindy Dayley said.
There’s got to be, because the sacrifice these players and coaches make might drive away other athletes who are accustomed to training tables, training rooms, tutors and practice times that get them to bed by, well, bedtime.
First there’s the money (and we’re not talking about scholarships). Club dues and travel expenses cost each Husky Hockey player more than $2,000 per season. The roster contains just 17 players because others who might have had the skills didn’t have the money, Dayley said.
"The criteria to make the team is dedication," Dayley said. "There’s a lot of time the boys put into the team. But yes, you have to be able to afford it and you have to have the skill level."
The university, through the Department of Recreation, contributes less than one percent of the $50,000 needed to play a season, Dayley said.
Player dues provide much of the operating costs, but Dayley said the team still must raise $15,000 to $18,000 to meet overall team expenses. Much of that comes from the sale of Husky Hockey merchandise — t-shirts, jerseys, pucks, etc. — along with advertising in the program and the $5 per-person admission charge at home games.
"And donations," she said. "Writing us a check is wonderful."
Currently, the players are writing many of those checks.
"I work, I get some financial aid and my parents help me out," said Lawrence, who works part-time at a United Parcel Service store in Edmonds. "But you can’t work more than 10 or 15 hours a week and keep up with this schedule."
Vandermyn works for a moving company and Anderson stocks shelves at a grocery store near Alki Beach.
The schedule is nothing a varsity athlete would envy.
Because ice is scarce around Seattle and public skating sessions and youth-league programs dominate the prime-time hours, the Huskies begin most of their practices and games about 10 p.m. Midnight madness isn’t just for basketball players.
"I’ve got classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30 in the morning, and we’re at the rink until 1 (a.m.)," Lawrence said. "There’s not much time for sleep, especially when you need to study."
Why do they bother?
While the hockey is hard-hitting and competitive at this level, it’s not on par with the Everett Silvertips and the WHL players who have serious dreams of turning pro, Dayley said.
"This isn’t for the boys to advance a hockey career," she said. "This is for them to get their education, to play competitively, and hopefully learn and grow as people and hockey players."
Dayley counts herself and assistant coach Zoe Harris among the lucky ones as well, even though they sacrifice almost as much as the players (besides the bruises, that is).
This is their sixth season coaching the Husky Hockey program, having come to it with a hockey background and some good timing. They helped a friend start a women’s inline league at a Seattle rink, and they coached a team to a national title. About that time, the Husky Hockey program needed a coach, and Dayley and Harris were urged to apply.
In 1998, they became two of the first women to coach a men’s college hockey team, an achievement that didn’t get past the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. A display there includes Dayley’s jacket and Harris’ hat.
Dayley credits her parents, David and Janet Dayley, who live in Brier, for passing their love of hockey on to her.
"I was taken to my first pro game when I was three months old because my mother didn’t want to stay home with the baby and didn’t see why I couldn’t go. I’m glad," said Dayley, who played hockey on several elite-level women’s teams. "As I grew older and more broken, somebody conned me into coaching and I fell into love with it."
Her quest with the Huskies isn’t just to produce a winner, but to provide an avenue for young men to leave with special memories in a sport they love. It seems to be working.
Lawrence said his best moment wasn’t the All-America honor he won two years ago. Nothing was as good as playing last season on the same team with his two brothers, Shaun and Craig, he said.
It’s just as personal for Vandermyn.
"It’s whenever I’m skating," he said. "That’s pretty much my best moment."
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