Coed to cross-cultural — Hockey becomes ticket to international experience

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

When Whitney Ischi stepped on the ice to play hockey in Switzerland in September, she wasn’t quite the same as the rest of the players.

The rules of the game were different from what she was used to, for one thing. And being from Kenai, she wasn’t familiar with the culture, much less any of the languages spoken there. She couldn’t even talk to the coach.

But if she let differences from the rest of her team stop her from playing hockey, she wouldn’t have gotten that far in the first place.

Ischi, 19, grew up in Kenai, playing hockey since she was 5 with the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association, and high school hockey at Kenai Central and Soldotna high schools. Being one of the few female players on the peninsula, it was either play with the boys, or not play.

“All through growing up I was basically the only girl down here on the peninsula that played. There weren’t many girls, and there were no girls teams down here to play on,” she said. “But it was difficult growing up being a girl playing hockey. A lot of people thought it wasn’t a place for girls to play.”
Ischi’s mother, Val, said she and her husband, Peter, encouraged Whitney to play, just as they did their son, Phillip.

“For us, we wanted the kids to do something they loved to do and something that was positive for them to do and helped take up their extra time,” Val said. “We spent a lot of money and a lot of time on it, but for us it was worth it. We didn’t have to worry about the kids getting into trouble. That was our goal. If it ended up being something they did after high school, great, but it was just something for the kids to do and not be couch potatoes.”

Even though she supported her daughter’s interest in hockey, Val said she was surprised that Whitney stuck with the sport.

“I think with it being typically not a girls sport and her having to play with the boys, I thought when she hit Peewee level and they started checking, this would be the point where she said, ‘That’s enough,’ and didn’t want to do this anymore,” Val said.

“The thing was, you are a girl. So, number one, you’re going to have to be a little tougher out there. And no whining. When you step on the ice, you’re a hockey player, you’re not a girl because you chose to play,” she said.

Whitney kept on playing through Peewee checking, through high school where the skaters got faster and bigger, through a girls competition league for Team Alaska and during a year of college in Minnesota.

“So far she’s done well and any injuries she’s had is against the girls,” Val said. “She had knee surgery from playing soccer, and went into the boards against girls. Go figure, you know?”

After her first year in college, Whitney wasn’t sure where she wanted to go with her education.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do this year. I wanted to take a year off school to figure it out. I didn’t want to waste another year of my family’s money,” she said.

Her older brother, Phillip, played pro hockey for Visp in Switzerland’s National League B for the past two seasons, and talked to his agent about a girls league. The teams are only allowed two “import,” or foreign, players, but both Whitney and Phillip got dual citizenship so they could play. This year, Phillip is playing for Crans-Montana and Whitney is playing for Kussnacht Rigi in the amateur Ladies A League.

Even though Whitney has family connections to Switzerland, she ended up there alone in September. Phillip didn’t head over for his season until Whitney was on her way back to Kenai for holiday break. Their grandmother had a condo in Switzerland, but she spends half the year in Hawaii.

Other then a family trip when she was 10, Whitney had never been to Europe. She doesn’t speak any of the languages spoken in Switzerland — French, Italian, German and Romansh. Her cell phone didn’t work and she didn’t have Internet access when she got there. She doesn’t have a car and the public transportation system was unfamiliar.

But she’s adjusted. There’s a translator on her team that helps her communicate when she’s in practice or games, and she’s taking German lessons. She’s got the transportation system figured out, and Phillip will be there when she gets back in January. She plans to travel with him for a month after hockey season is over in March.

“I really like Switzerland a lot,” Whitney said. “The whole other culture thing and how they go through life is different. Traveling on the transit system and the trains, that was very difficult at first, but now I like them.”

Her next moves are starting to fall into place. Whitney plans to take online classes next year to pursue a career as an X-ray technician. She may move back to Alaska someday, since her family is still here. Her parents own the Dairy Queen in Soldotna.

As for hockey, she plans to keep it a part of her life.

“It’s so different from other sports,” Whitney said. “… There’s so many different places that it takes you. You play people from all over. It’s so unexpected. There’s no certain plan. I can go any direction I want and can continue to do it anywhere, really.

“I’ll continue to keep playing for a couple more years, and if something else happens, something else happens.”

Whatever direction Whitney ends up going, Val expects she’ll skate down it with the same determination she’s showed in playing hockey.

“She’s very focused, very driven. There’s not a doubt in my mind she’ll succeed at it. If she couldn’t take it, she would be done. It was really her choice to do and she has just succeeded in it. She sets herself goals and she’s sure she’s going to attain them, and good for her,” Val said.

Phillip, who will be 23 in February, wants to see how far he can go in hockey, Val said.

“He found what he loves doing, and I wish him all the success in it,” she said. “Pete and I both have encouraged the kids to do it, mainly because how many people get that kind of experience? And learning the culture and all of those kinds of things is good. You might as well do it when you’re young and don’t have anything holding you back.”

That’s Whitney’s philosophy.

“Keep your mind open to any opportunity that comes your way,” she said. “Any chance to do something different, just take it. You always have your life to live afterward, but you can only be young once.”

Never too late to skate — Son’s interest in hockey gets dad on the ice

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

Peter Klauder wasn’t completely unfamiliar with hockey before he joined a Tier II Rusty Blades hockey team this winter.

But his prior experience wasn’t exactly extensive.

“I’ve skated on ponds, like three or four times in my life,” he said of his childhood in Ohio. “We played hockey a little bit, maybe. I don’t know if we even had a hockey stick. I remember somebody’s mom playing goalie with a broomstick.”

But when Klauder’s 13-year-old son, Sage, decided he wanted to play hockey last December, Klauder decided to give it a try, too.

“My son, out of the blue, came up and said, ‘I want to play hockey.’ I said, ‘Great. The season’s half over, but let’s go check it out.’”

Sage was able to join a team in the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association, and Klauder shoveled off a section of the lake they live by for a practice rink.

“We were playing one on one and I was laughing so hard I’d be crying having so much fun,” Klauder said.

His friend, Shorty Lawrence, talked him into joining Rusty Blades, the adult hockey league at the Soldotna Sports Center. Not only did he need to hone his skating skills, but he was fuzzy on hockey in general.

“I was scared to death out there. I really had never played hockey. I didn’t know any of the rules,” he said.

He’s progressed past getting a penalty for standing in the wrong spot. Now he’s on to the finer points of the game, like avoiding collisions.

“Oh, man. I’m really a terrible hockey player, but I suppose I’m getting a little bit better. It’s just so much fun. It’s such a kick. There’s no checking, which is nice. As long as I don’t hurt myself running into things and other people, I’m having a blast,’ he said.

Klauder played soccer in high school and college, and he likes that hockey is similarly filled with action.

“It’s exciting, it’s fast, it’s a real adrenaline rush,” he said. “It’s constant action. There’s no break, there’s no lull, you just go full speed when you’re playing hockey. You go all out, take a quick little break and go all out again.”

Rusty Blades has a Tier I program for advanced players, and Tier II for the more recreational ones. Klauder likes that it isn’t a super competitive environment. He certainly doesn’t get caught up in the team’s record, the length of the season or the scores of recent games.

“Oh boy, all these technical questions,” he said.

Still, hockey now plays a big role in his family’s life in the winter. He and his son weren’t hockey fans before, but they are now. Klauder and Sage watch Brown Bears games, and they both like starting pickup games for practice. Klauder watches Sage’s Bantam games, and said Sage has turned into a good skater — “he can twirl around me,” Klauder said.

“It’s a great, fun thing to go do with my son. I wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t for him,” Klauder said. “It’s made winter for me. It gives me something to do in the winter that’s a lot of fun.”

Anyone with some skating experience — even if it involves neighbors’ mothers and broomsticks — is welcome to give it a try.

“You need to be able to skate a little bit. It is a competitive sport,” Klauder said. “It’s all about being energetic and going after it, but, golly, if you’ve got someone who’s energetic and knows how to skate, you should definitely go for it.”

High (quality) impact — Brown Bears a boon for area hockey

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

In a community the size of the central Kenai Peninsula, with a limited amount of support available for any one program or area of interest, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.

When it comes to hockey, that limit hasn’t been reached.

The Kenai River Brown Bears Junior A hockey program is settling into its second season, drawing higher attendance at games and more financial support from the community than it did last year.

“It’s been very good,” said Nate Kiel, general manager of the Brown Bears, of the team’s 700 to 750 game attendance average this year. “It’s been an improvement from last year. We’re still not quite where we’d like it to be, but it’s certainly been up.”

Part of that support comes from people who, in the past, have been devoted to other levels of hockey — the youth Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association and high school hockey programs. But any concern that there wasn’t enough fans or contributors to go around for all three levels of hockey don’t seem to be holding true, say coaches of high school and youth hockey.

“I’m happy with them being here. I guess I can’t think of anything really negative,” said Pete Iverson, head hockey coach at Kenai Central High School.

Iverson and Soldotna High head hockey coach Aaron Swanson, who also coaches KPHA hockey, said it’s still early in the season to tell for sure, but they haven’t noticed a decrease in their game attendance.

SoHi and Kenai had home games last weekend. At Friday’s game, Diane Garske, a SoHi parent, said she didn’t think attendance would decline.

“I see past parents that don’t have kids playing anymore. Parents do still come and support the high school teams,” she said.

Fundraising hasn’t been any more difficult, either. Swanson said SoHi’s team does value-added fundraisers, like making sandbags that local stores can buy and resell, so a program like the Brown Bears seeking larger-scale sponsorships doesn’t affect them much. The same goes for KCHS.

“So far Kenai has not experienced a lack of fundraising because of the Brown Bears, or lack of community support,” Iverson said.

The impact coaches have seen is increased interest from their players due to the Brown Bears.

“It seems like there’s a lot of interest in the younger kids with the Brown Bears being in town, which is helpful in building a hockey program in the area,” Swanson said.

“I know among my players that I directly interact with, that’s what they do when the Brown Bears are in town,” Iverson said. “That’s their weekend is going to the games. For that reason alone they’re good to have because it’s giving the hockey kids something to do.”

Beyond just providing more hockey to watch, having a Junior A team gives younger players a goal.

“It gives them something to look at and shoot for,” Garske said.

It also gives younger players an idea of what it takes to achieve that goal.

“They see these kids that are essentially two levels above where varsity hockey is,” Iverson said. “They see the talent level it would take to do that, because a lot of these kids are interested in doing that.”

Brown Bears are expected to perform community service and conduct themselves in a manner that reflects well on the organization.

“They’re seeing the work ethic and the moral standards that they’re held to,” Iverson said. “I hope that will be a positive impact on my kids. So far it has been.”

Kiel said the majority of players in the North American Hockey League are on track for college.

“I think that it is an excellent program for high school players to look toward,” he said. “The players we have are role models and they come from great backgrounds with solid grades and they all aspire to play college hockey.”

Kiel is the former head hockey coach at KCHS. Coming from that background, he’s tried to avoid conflicting with the high school programs.

Brown Bears practices are held in the mornings, so they don’t take up ice time after school when younger teams practice. And games are scheduled so as not to conflict with other events.

“Being in the high school ranks for a long time, we’ve done everything possible to not have conflicts in terms of scheduling,” Kiel said.

Even fundraising is done at a different level.

“On the one hard, realizing there are only so many dollars out there one might argue that, but we’re on a different scale in size and scope compared to high school athletics,” Kiel said. “We’ve approached lot of big, major corporations for support.”

“I think that it’ll have a positive impact on high school players, as well as on youth hockey, in general,” Kiel said. “… Young players are lining up for autographs and wanting to talk to players after the games. I think it’s been a neat thing to see our youth be exposed to this level of the sport, as well as the good kids that we have.”

Pucker up — Hockey moms don’t mind Palin’s humor

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

“You know what they say about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?

“Lipstick,” according to Gov. Sarah Palin, in an unscripted line now famous from her speech accepting the vice presidential nomination to run with John McCain at the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3.

And what, exactly, makes a hockey mom? According to mothers at a Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association game at the Soldotna Sports Center on Sunday, it’s first and foremost dedication.

“It’s the dedication thing, for sure,” said Laurie Johnson, whose soon-to-be-16-year-old son, Eric Johnson, was skating for the Ice Hawks against an Anchorage team Sunday.

Betty Bea was sitting with Johnson in the stands above the rink. It’s a spot she’s well accustomed to, having been a hockey mom while her son, Johnny Bea, played hockey for Kenai Central when he was in high school, and played for the Alaska Aces in 1994. Now she’s sort of a hockey grandma and comes out to watch Eric play.

“On a (competition) team level it takes a lot of dedication to be at games, and be part of the team,” Bea said.

Bea said she isn’t a McCain supporter and she differs from Palin on issues like earmarks and abortion, but said she thinks Palin’s nomination is good for women.

“I’m not necessarily a Republican, but I think she could probably do the job,” Bea said. “I would like to see her with more experience, but she’s the governor, so that certainly qualifies her for the job she’d be doing.”

Being a hockey mom is a life experience in and of itself, and all experiences contribute to a person’s abilities.

“I don’t know if that qualifies her (to be vice president),” Bea said. “I don’t know that that qualifies me, but that’s experience.”

“And she’s right about the lipstick line,” she said. “We can get pretty aggressive.”

“A lot of people think there’s too much fighting — ” Bea said, interrupting herself to cheer for the Ice Hawks as they scored a goal. “ — but it’s really no different than any other sport.”

In Pam Johnson’s experience, being a hockey mom means being an expert juggler.

“You organize around your child’s schedule,” she said.

If you’re not at the hockey rink or driving to or from the hockey rink, you’re making sure your kids are eating and getting their homework done and getting sleep.

“You dress warm in the middle of the winter,” said Christie Stinnett, of Soldotna. Her son, Joshua, now a sophomore at Soldotna High School, has been playing hockey for eight or nine years now.

“And you make sure the kids have feet warmers in their boots so they don’t freeze,” Johnson, of Sterling, added. She was at the rink to watch her son, Tyler, also a sophomore at SoHi.

Johnson said she was excited about Palin’s nomination.

“I got a T-shirt that says ‘Go Sarah’ on it,” she said. “I think it’s awesome, period. Honestly, I think she’s done a lot for the state in the time she’s been a governor.”

She agrees with Palin’s quip.

“Hockey moms tend to be a little aggressive, but that’s beside the point,” she said.

Sitting above the rink, she carried on conversations, talked on a cell phone and drank her coffee, but her attention and vocal chords were primarily dedicated to the game.

“Go Ice Hawks!” she yelled at one point, followed with various exclamations of “Go!” “Watch him!” and other encouragements.

“… And we all think we can coach better than the coach,” she added to the list of a hockey mom’s description.

Mostly being a hockey mom means being devoted.

“Devotion to your kids. They need good sportsmanship, and aggressiveness, but you’ve got to juggle between them,” Johnson said.

There was no mistaking Dena Cunningham’s hockey mom status as she stood next to the boards Sunday, wearing a KPHA jacket with “Morgan’s mom” printed on the back and visibly cringing whenever her son was involved in a collision.

Cunningham said being a hockey mom isn’t any different than a soccer mom, or any sports parent who supports their child’s activity — except being a little more prepared for cold. For her, with 15-year-old Morgan, hockey has been a longtime devotion.

“I’m going to be sad when my son isn’t playing hockey anymore. You become a big family over the years. He’s been skating with them since the kids were 5. You get to know the families and siblings and watch the kids grow up,” she said.
Cunningham said she taped Palin’s speech and stayed up until 1 a.m. watching it.

“I think that since I’ve been aware of Sarah in the political arena in Alaska, I think she has done a great job for Alaska,” she said. “She’s well-spoken, I think she’s a straight shooter. I think she has so much energy, She’s positive. … I think her strong point is she’s a real person, not a career politician. You don’t have to wonder what spin she’s putting on something.”

She said she laughed when she heard Palin’s hockey mom remark.

“It was funny when I heard it. I wasn’t offended by it,” she said. “… It showed her tough side.”

Bears come out to play — Hockey fans don’t have to wait much longer for Junior A action

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

Summer hibernation is over. The Brown Bears are back.

The central Kenai Peninsula’s own Junior A hockey team was on the ice for a skills competition Saturday with fans in the bleachers to see how the team is shaping up this year.

There are a lot of changes as the Brown Bears embark on their second season. The Bears themselves have many new faces. The roster isn’t finalized yet, but so far there are still five Alaskans in the running to make the team — Matt Sutherland, Jed McGlasson and Kegan Kiel, all of Kenai, Brad Fusaro, of Soldotna, and Matt Bennett, of Anchorage.
Brown Bears General Manager Nate Kiel said hundreds of skaters tried out for the team this year, compared to 150 last year.

“We had a huge improvement in the total number of players trying out and in quality,” Kiel said. “They’re coming out of high-level programs.”

Tanner Waterbury, a 2008 Soldotna High School graduate, was in the crowd with his dad, Rocky Waterbury, watching the Brown Bears weave through the skills competition — an obstacle course relay, skate race, elimination shootout, agility course, accuracy shooting, hardest shot and breakaway challenge, followed by a green vs. white scrimmage. Tanner is planning to attend the University of Puget Sound, Wa., and play for the Loggers. He tried out for the Brown Bears, so he had a firsthand look at what their strengths and weaknesses may be this year.

“I think they’ll be a high-offense team,” he said. “… They’re all pretty quick and they’ve got pretty good hands. They might struggle defensively. And they’ve got two new goalies, so I don’t know how the goaltending will work out.”

A new coaching staff is at the helm. Head coach Brent Agrusa came to the Brown Bears by way of the Hampton Roads Whalers hockey program in Chesapeake, Va., where his was the only undefeated Junior team in the country during his first year with the Junior B program there. In 2007, Agrusa posted another impressive season, with 12 of his players moving on to NCAA schools.

Players were in Soldotna for training camp Aug. 19 to 23. Coach Agrusa has kept them moving since, with stretching at 6 a.m., ice time from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and team meetings and three different dry-land training sessions after that. Players also are expected to work or take classes in the community from 4 to 4:30 p.m.

“There’s very little time for play for the Brown Bears,” Kiel said. “The coach expects them to be dedicated and down to work. That’s why they’re here.”

Jon Marshall, head of security for the Brown Bears, and Kacey Marshall, a volunteer coordinator, predicted the new coaching staff and their work ethic will propel the Brown Bears to success this season.

“They’re doing a lot of heavy-duty conditioning this year,” Jon Marshall said.
Even though games don’t start until mid-September, the Marshalls were happy to be rinkside in their Brown Bears sweaters Saturday in anticipation of the season.

“I think it’s great, for sure,” Jon Marshall said. “I think for kids playing hockey around here, it gives them something to shoot for.”

The Brown Bears give adults something, too — an opportunity to watch live, quality hockey.

“It’s about time,” said Morgan Burdick, of Sterling.

“We need something like that down here,” his wife, Mary Burdick, said. “When your kids are grown and don’t play high school sports anymore, it’s a nice thing to come watch hockey.”

The Burdicks were Skyview hockey parents until 2003.

“When you’re hockey parents, it’s like you live here,” Mary Burdick said. “… But we missed it. We went out to see some high school games, but it’s not the same.”

They’ve already bought their Brown Bears season tickets.

“We’re their number one fans,” Morgan said.

Perhaps the biggest change for the Brown Bears isn’t even visible on the ice. The program switched to nonprofit status. Barry Schoenly founded the team in the midst of a battle with cancer. That experience made Schoenly want to ensure the future of the program by getting the local community involved, Kiel said.

Thus, the Kenai Peninsula Youth Foundation was born.

“It’s not just entertainment on the ice, but the things we bring to the community in terms of service projects,” Kiel said. “It’s been a real successful venture. The Brown Bears are really the vehicle that helps carry out its mission of helping deliver programs that will help our youth develop mentally and physically.”

Upcoming events include a cancer awareness week with health programs planned for kids, and a military awareness week in recognition of the armed forces. Brown Bears also do service projects for the cities, churches, the Boys and Girls Club, schools, the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank and other organizations.

Much of the nonprofit’s funding comes in the form of corporate sponsorships, and nearly 30 local businesses and community members have signed up for Founders sponsorships.
“As soon as we went nonprofit … it just really took off at that point, with the business side. They want to support this for kids,” Kiel said.

Fans are another source of vital support, through their cheering in the stands and tickets at the door.

“Support this program by buying a season ticket, if nothing else. We’d love to have that support because we need more of it. We’re not there yet,” Kiel said.

With the nonprofit’s finances finding its footing, the Brown Bears will take it from there.

“I think we’ll do well,” Kiel said. “Based on the talent pool we have here this year and the coaching staff we’re bringing in, I feel really good about it.”

The Brown Bears ended last season with a 12-38-8 record, the worst in the North American Hockey League. Kiel said he thinks that works in the team’s favor.

“We’re entering our sophomore season here. I don’t think anyone expects anything out of the Brown Bears except the Brown Bears.”

A Meet the Brown Bears event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 13 in the conference room at the Soldotna Sports Center, with steak dinner and opportunities to photograph and meet the players. Tickets are $15. A green vs. white hockey game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the game is free.

Games begin Sept. 17. The first game at Soldotna Sports Center is Oct. 3 vs. the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. Season tickets sell for $219. Call 262-PUCK for more information.

The winners of the skills competition are as follows:
Fastest skater, Kyle Clay; hardest shot, Rob Michalka; shot accuracy, Pat Sullivan; agility course, Jed McGlasson; and breakaway, Gary Astalos.