by Nathalie Sczublewski
It’s after 5 p.m. and the Mullins Center is hauntingly still, except for the zamboni making its rounds on the ice. The UMass Minutemen hockey team is preparing for their game against the University of Vermont. The maroon double doors that lead to the locker room are flung open and Joel Hanley kicks a soccer ball out into the hall as he takes a bite from his apple. He kicks the ball until he reaches the northwest corner of the rink where his team enters and exits the ice.
Hanley is joined by two other teammates, Colin Shea and Alex Wakaluk. The trio begin playing a game of two-touch, a soccer game where each player is only allowed two touches for the ball. By the third touch, the player is out. The tall Adam Phillips emerges from the tunnel wearing his headphones.
“Uh-oh! Look out!” Shea said grinning.
The group expands as Branden Gracel and Brennan Baxandall join the game. Conor Sheary runs over to his teammates with his arms raised in the air.
“I beat first ‘G’!” Sheary exclaims.
“You beat first ‘G’?” Shea chuckles.
Sheary later explains that new ‘P,’ new ‘G’ means new player, new game.
“If they already started a new game and someone comes in late, we start a new game so they can get in.” Sheary said.
The ball is kicked to Phillips, to Gracel, to Sheary, to Wakaluk, to Baxandall and then it soars into the stands. The boys grumble and glare at where their ball lands.
“Start over! Start over!” Shea says, waving his hand.
“Well…that was sick though.” Gracel says.
Wakaluk squeezes in between the railing and the glass and retrieves the ball. He hops down from the stands.
The game resumes. Goalie, Mac Haight appears out of the tunnel eating a granola bar. Phillips kicks the ball and it hits the Dominos Pizza sign above the UMass tunnel entrance with a loud thud. The boys look up at the sign with child-like, wide-eyed expressions. Nervous laughter breaks out.
“Are ya kidding me, Phillips?!” Haight laughs.
Sheary touches the ball a third time and is out.
“That’s it!” he says tossing his hands in the air, running into the locker room. Time is winding down, and once each player is out, they head back to the locker room.
Haight and Gracel are the last ones standing for two-touch.
Starting goaltender, Stephen Mastalerz is in the tunnel corridor. He crouches down and tosses three tennis balls against the wall he faces. He juggles the balls with great concentration, catching them to practice his reactions for a puck.
Emerson Auvenshine stood in the hallway near the locker room. He jumps high in the air and begins to sprint. He dashes out into the hallway, to the tunnel and out in the stands. A few of his teammates follow him out to the stands where they run laps.
Phillips walks over to the glass and stares out onto the ice as hip-hop blasts through his headphones. He begins to visualize the game inside his head. He is focused when all of a sudden the smoke machine in the corner goes off. His eyes follow the smoke as it begins to fill the corner. His focus is lost and he leaves. A Mullins Center employee scurries over to examine the problem. Zack LaRue was stretching in the tunnel when this mishap occurred.
“Hit the power button.” He suggests as he runs over to the rescue. He shuts off the possessed machine and the thick smoke clears.
Marc Hetnik hides behind the black curtain in the tunnel, as he finishes his bagel topped with peanut butter. He stretches his legs and walks over to the glass. He begins to visualize the arena filling up and sees himself on the ice playing the game with his teammates. He turns as the equipment managers walk over carrying sticks. Hetnik opens the latch to let the two struggling equipment managers get to the bench.
Mastalerz is first in the tunnel to line-up. He is dressed in his uniform and cracks his neck to ease tension. His body jerks to the left as he hunches over. He stands up, cracks his back and hunches down again. He shakes his head. Ben Gallacher and Shea bump fists. Shea stands on the right side of the tunnel. He looks down at his skate and taps it with his stick three times. The players pour into the tunnel and do their special handshakes with each other. One of the players hollers, “Woo!” and they all skate onto the ice for warm-up drills.
The event staff worker opens the door leading from the ice and Mastalerz is the first one off. One-by-one, the players skate off the ice. Michael Pereira begins to follow his teammates, but stops. He sees a group of children looking at him through the glass. He picks a puck from the ice and holds it up for them. They smile and jump with their hands in the air. He tosses the puck over the glass. He takes another puck and balances it on his the curve of his stick, pauses and flicks it over the glass. He waves good-bye to them and skates off with a smile.
Mastalerz is back in the tunnel. He hunches over and listens to the sound of his breathing. His expression is fierce. It is 6:55 and the arena lights dim. As the “Seven Nation Army” chant fills the Mullins Center, handshakes are given again and the Mullins Arena announcer booms through the speakers.
“Heeeeere come your UUUUUMass Minutemeeeeeeen!”
The team skates out to Angus Young’s heavy guitar riffs of the AC/DC classic, “Thunderstruck.” They stand side-by-side in a row. The lights dim again. Pereira examines the curve of his stick and twirls it before his name is announced as a starting player. He skates to the middle of the ice, as does Adam Phillips, Conor Sheary, Oleg Yevenko, Ben Gallacher, and Stephen Mastalerz. The rest of the team joins the starters and the arena hushes for the “National Anthem.” Both teams raise their sticks in the air to salute the flag as the singer finishes her last note. The 12 players on the ice, donned in green and white and maroon, skate over to the offensive zone. Phillips is in the center of the face-off. The whistle blows and the puck drops.
Nathalie Sczublewski can be reached at [email protected]
