Intramurals in the ‘State of Hockey’

The Van Cleve All Stars continued to pile up goals, but the scorekeeper decided to stop at 17.
By that point, it was clear the All Stars had skills deserving of a better home ice than a frozen pond at Van Cleve Park.
It is perhaps fitting that the “State of Hockey” is home to the University Athletic Hockey League, the only full-contact intramural hockey league in the country. An overwhelming majority of participants played in high school, and those still in need of a competitive fix have an outlet not available elsewhere.
“We still have the competitive juices,” said Will Tabor, a member of the three-time defending champion Van Cleve All Stars. “[For intramurals], it’s the closest to being on an actual college team that you can find.”
One of the few differences between a UAHL game and a Gophers home game is 10,000 absent fans. Teams are provided matching jerseys, the referees are certified by the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, games run a full 60 minutes and individual statistics are updated weekly. Intramural supervisor Sidd Ramanuj hopes to start a Web site to track league standings.
No other intramural sport at the University is quite as serious, and for good reason — the league fee is $1,600. Non-contact hockey, which also happens to be the second most expensive sport, costs just $285. There are no skill requirements for the UAHL, but the steep price tag usually acts as a natural filter for less competitive teams.
Had they chosen to, a number of players in the league could have played college hockey. Joel Gitar received an offer to play at Division III Carleton College, and Sever Lundquist was prepared to walk on at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Instead, both were accepted at the University of Minnesota, and school took precedent over hockey.
Others might have been able to play in developmental leagues meant to act as a springboard for college or professional hockey.
“That’s what it was for all of us out of high school,” Collin Iacarella said. “It was either go play juniors for a couple years, chase the dream, or go to school and play intramurals.”
All things considered, it’s easy to forget that the UAHL is still very much an intramural league. With the United States and Canada facing off in Olympic hockey at the same time, the Van Cleve All Stars and their opponent together had only five substitutes during Sunday’s 7 p.m. game. Or, if a team’s goalie doesn’t show, an inexperienced replacement with borrowed pads takes his place, as was the case in the 9 p.m. game.
And though they’d love to four-peat, the Van Cleve All Stars aren’t exactly in the middle of a rigorous training regimen. As their name suggests, they play outdoor pick-up games at Van Cleve Park, but that’s the extent of it.
“No one would show up if I threw practice,” team captain Sam Shaw said, laughing.
Whatever competitive juices still flow through Shaw and his team, they’re limited to Sunday and Monday nights. Even then, they don’t take themselves too seriously.
The five players that milled around after Sunday’s game immediately perked up when someone mentioned teammate David Carbonneau. They all heaped excessive, clearly disingenuous yet good-natured compliments on their absent teammate. Carbonneau didn’t play hockey in high school.
Somewhere between “smokes the competition” and “NHL flow,” it became quite obvious that Carbonneau was not the “absolute stud” of the team.
Also quite obvious: Despite the steep price, competition and checking, the UAHL is an intramural league through and through.