Players speed across the ice, kicking up a storm of snow in their wake as they warm up for practice. It’s 9:40 p.m., and outside, the world is dark. The boy’s varsity hockey team has just started their practice.
Walter Brown Arena within the Case Athletic Center at Boston University, the home rink of the girls and boys varsity hockey teams, is undergoing renovations for a new locker room, team lounge, video board and coaches’ lounge. Due to the renovations, both varsity hockey teams are splitting time between the Warrior Ice Arena and Roxbury Latin School Rink.
Kyle Williams, the Athletic Director, said the high school has contacted around 15 rinks to find ice time. According to Williams, the athletic department is working to schedule practices and games, the latter of which are currently being held at Warrior Ice Arena in Allston.
“We do that kind of work every year because we don’t have a consistent rink. It’s not like Walter Brown gives us 4-6 p.m., six days a week,” Williams said.
Senior and girls’ varsity hockey captain Suejin Koo said that originally the girls varsity hockey team was supposed to have early morning practices, but that they decided to have late night practices once they were able to use the Warrior Ice Arena and Roxbury Latin School. Park said that she was thankful for the new location, but that the change in the time of practices was definitely hard.
Senior and girls varsity hockey captain Izzy Paes said the change was welcomed by her team, however, it was still stressful as the team believed that they were to have morning practices.
“We were just scared that it was going to affect us mentally and physically. They made a last-minute change and made [the practices] at night, so we don’t have to do it in the mornings, but it was stressful because we didn’t know where we were gonna play,” Paes said.
According to Paes, the change was a difficult adjustment for the whole team who were used to their old home. Park also said it was hard to be without their normal home rink, especially for the seniors on the team who had spent the past three years playing at the Walter Brown Arena.
“It’s definitely upsetting because we’ve been at Walter Brown for so long. I think a lot of us, especially the upperclassmen, are more upset about it, but it’s an adjustment we have to do, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I think next year, when this team’s back at Walter Brown, we’ll definitely have a better locker room and ice, so that’s good for the underclassmen,” Koo said.
Sophomore Waylon Slavin, a member of the boys varsity hockey team, said that practice now starts at 8:40 p.m. or 9:40 p.m. once a week, and runs for an hour, switching start times with the girls varsity hockey team. Slavin said the rest of the times are random.
“I’m always tired during school, which throws me off a little bit, but if you do your homework before you go to practice, [it’s] not too bad,” Slavin said.
Slavin said the boys varsity hockey team only has two home games this year at Warrior, with the other eight in Watertown. This contrasts with the usual 10 to 12 home games they have.
“It’s not the end of the world, but home games are always more fun [and have] more fans,” Slavin said.
Paes said the difficulty of getting rides to practice has always been a problem, even when they practiced at the Walter Brown Arena. The night practices and changing rinks have only exacerbated this problem. Paes said building an ice rink specifically for the high school hockey teams would solve this issue.
“I’ve always wanted them to because I feel like it would be so much easier for the boys and the girls,” Paes said. “If we had our own rink and we could leave our stuff there. I feel like it would just be so much easier.”