Student Life reporter Renee Hires sat down with sophomore goalie David Garland to hear what roller hockey is like, how far the University club team has already come in the regular season, the outlook for Regionals, and the prospect of playing at Nationals.
Student Life: As your team enters the post-season ranked third in your region, behind UMSL and SLU, and 17th in the nation, what goals would you still like to fulfill?
David Garland: We’ve already exceeded our goals for this season. We didn’t make too many lofty goals at the beginning of the season because it would have been laughable if we had been sitting here last year saying we want to go 10-5-3 in the regular season, pick up a nice seed for Regionals, and have Nationals looming over us. We would have laughed. The whole idea was just to make it to Regionals, and we pretty much assured that before the first semester even ended. Still, we want to go to Nationals, to Anaheim. That’s the bottom line. We think we’ll be competitive out there and win some games, but we don’t have our sights on a National championship.
SL: Why would you have laughed at the thought of Regionals last year?
DG: Last season was just a dreadful year because no one knew what the hell was going on. The seniors didn’t leave anyone in the reigns. I was a freshman, and all I knew was they were decent before but had left nothing. [Junior] Nick Salzman and I took over the team. We needed a lot of changes so I got the coach, my dad, [Randy Garland]. Also, we picked up some great transfers in the off-season. We started reorganizing a team slowly with our sights on this year. I can’t believe we went from that to 17th in the country out of hundreds of teams. We’ve completely turned everything around. We came in as a huge underdog this year and just upset everyone.
SL: Was there a definitive turning point for the team?
DG: Yes. Last summer, the guys that were here played in the Men’s League at the All-American Sports Complex in South County. We wanted to play in a men’s league where we would get killed because it would get us ready for the games in the regular season. We played a really high level of competition without many players, and we just got obliterated during the regular season like we thought we would. We went into the playoffs as the last seed, beat everyone, and won the championship. That was our turning point because we came together and beat the crap out of everyone. We just marched though and won it while all these other teams were shocked that it happened. That started our momentum for winning.
SL: Apparently, the club team has come a long way since first playing pick-up games on top of a parking garage in 1994.
DG: Not only has the team [here] changed, but the league has gotten ridiculously better. The league has grown exponentially over the years. This year was a big turning year for us though as far as becoming extremely competitive in a really good league. Basically anyone in the bottom of the league we pretty much obliterated, like Kansas State, who we beat 11-1. There is a ten-goal mercy rule in our league, so if you beat someone by 10 it’s over. K. State was the first team that we ever mercied, so that was fun.
SL: When and where does the team practice?
DG: Every Wednesday we scrimmage against Mizzou, a Division I team. They drive an hour and a half to practice against us. Guys will also go to pick-up sessions, and there’s a park you can skate around in behind Target. There’s just randomly a roller hockey rink outside that no one knows about. If it was my choice I’d try to skate 7 days a week, but with such busy schedules it’s hard to fit it in. People also work out on their own. They know if they are not well conditioned they are not going to play, because we have a full roster. We make cuts at the beginning of the year, and we still have a lot of strong players that don’t play.
SL: Is roller hockey very similar to ice hockey?
DG: It’s played just like ice hockey, except it’s four-on-four and there’s no off-sides and no icing. It’s fast and fun, with less equipment, so we get hurt more. There’s a different style to the game, too. It’s sort of a cross between hockey and basketball because it’s a lot more about possession. A lot of people have misconceptions about roller hockey, though. They think it’s very unorganized, and they had this terrible roller hockey on ESPN 2 on television a few years ago. It was they worst thing ever. They had ramps and stuff. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.
SL: What makes roller hockey interesting or exciting?
DG: The overall skill and the high scoring are two things that I like. You’ll see a really good game as far as speed, passing skill, moves, and goaltending-stuff like that. Then also you get to see a lot more scoring than in ice hockey. 7-6, 6-5 scores are not uncommon. In ice hockey if you take two penalties you’re down 5 on 3, where in roller hockey you’re down 4 on 2. It is very easy to score on a power play. That’s an automatic goal.
SL: Since you’ve played both ice hockey and roller hockey, which do you think is more difficult?
DG: Roller hockey, for me, is a lot harder than ice hockey. In ice hockey you can slide around, but in roller hockey you’re stuck. Especially playing goalie you can’t slide. You have to step or dive. I think roller hockey separates the skill from the grinding of ice hockey. There’s a lot more stick handling, moves, and more flashy stuff in roller hockey. That puck flies like it’s nobody’s business. It’s lighter than an ice hockey puck, so it can get up to ridiculous speeds. It’s hard to control, so only the best ice hockey players normally become good at roller hockey.
SL: Is roller hockey as physical as ice hockey?
DG: A lot of people try to argue that roller hockey is less physical because there is not full checking, but I would actually argue that it is more physical. You’re not wearing shoulder pads, so you’ll just get destroyed if you get hit, which is kind of fun to watch. Technically, there is no hitting, but that’s like saying there is nothing physical in soccer. In the corners it’s just ridiculous, and people are hitting each other with sticks.
SL: How does your season work since roller hockey is not a NCAA varsity sport?
DG: We play in Div. II of the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association, which is basically the governing body over the whole country. It is more or less the NCAA of roller hockey. Some teams will have full scholarship athletes, and some teams fundraise all their money. We’re in the middle. As a [University] club sport we get some money from the Sports Club Federation. You play three or four games in a weekend. All the games are in St. Louis about every other weekend or so. We play an 18-game regular season against 12 other schools in the Great Plains League, and then the top 8 teams make Regionals, which are like the playoffs. Then there are Nationals in Anaheim in April. The top 16 teams in the country go to Nationals, and we should be able to go. Regionals just help to solidify your place for Nationals. Some teams are kind of on the brink, and you don’t know how many teams will be taken out of each region. Last year the top 4 went, and the division is even better than it was last year.
SL: Regionals will be held at the Mattison Square Gardens Tri-Plex in St. Peters, Missouri this weekend. What does your schedule look like?
DG: We do not have one easy game. Every single team in the top 8 could beat any other team really. Saturday we play St. Charles [Community College] at 1:00 p.m. and Southeast Missouri State at 4:00 p.m. If we win both our games Saturday we’re pretty much assured to go to Nationals, but then we face UMSL at 9:00 a.m. Sunday. If we win, we’ll compete in the semifinals at 11:00 am, and then the championship game will be at 2:00 p.m. Sunday.
SL: You have already lost once to UMSL, who finished the regular season 17-0-1. Can you skate with them Sunday?
DG: It will be a very difficult game, but someone needs to beat them. We could if we play a perfect game. Pretty much every single team they’ve played they’ve blown out pretty bad, but we actually stuck with them. We did not even play one of our better games, and the final score was 5-2, which isn’t bad when they’ve beaten teams 13-4. But I really want to knock off UMSL. I don’t want them going undefeated into Nationals. Someone can beat them. It will just be a question of if we can do it.
SL: What will be your greatest weapon against your opponents this weekend?
DG: We have a never-give-up attitude that’s helped us come back from so many games, and I would have to say heart is our strength over all. We’re solid everywhere but we’re not a team that is going to blow you out with offense. We also give up a lot of shots, so we have to make the best of our opportunities, which is something we have been doing. Any time we get a shot we usually score.
SL: Are you excited to be competing in St. Louis as usual?
DG: Yes. K. State travels a long time. We only travel 20 minutes, and we complain about it, too. I like how it still kind of gives us a home court advantage, though. We get a lot of guys from fraternities because we have 6 or 7 fraternities represented on the team. So we get those people out, some family-girlfriends. We would like to get a good turnout this weekend, since it’s the last chance to see us play in St. Louis. It’s just not a well-known sport, but when people see it they like it and want to come back.