ROLL PLAYERS
Author: Jason Devaney, Globe Correspondent Date: August 17, 2003 Globe North
SAUGUS - Walking through the front door of Hockeytown USA on a recent
Saturday morning, only silhouettes could be seen climbing the dark staircase.
But as the lights were flicked on and slowly came to life, those silhouettes
became men carrying hockey sticks, gloves, and ice skates, er . . .
rollerblades.
The Saugus facility, a fixture on Route 1 since 1972, is home to the Eastern
Mass. Roller Hockey League. Beverly native Dave Gardner started the league in
the spring of 1999 with four teams and an outside tennis court as the playing
surface. Now in its fifth year, the EMRHL has grown to 16 teams - eight play on
Tuesday nights, eight on Saturday mornings. Aside from barring fighting and
checking, the league is more or less based on the National Hockey League, says
Gardner. There are drafts at the beginning of every season, midseason trades,
and even playoffs. The players range from high school students to men
approaching 50.
"We're somewhere between a serious league and a pickup game," said Gardner. "We
try to model this league as much as we can to the NHL."
The nature of the game is fair play. Although there are times when emotions run
high and some curse words can be heard from the plastic surface, everything goes
back to normal after the game.
"We want competitive games each week," said Gardner. "When you show up to the
rink, you have a chance to win. I will not let anybody quit this league because
of uneven teams."
That is where the trades come in. If a team is 8-0 and another is 0-8, Gardner,
the league commissioner, arranges a trade between the two clubs to even up the
field. If a team still finds itself toward the bottom of the barrel come playoff
time, don't count it out.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Tuesday night league crowned the Nordiques its
champion. But the real story was that the Nordiques were the last seed in the
Eastern Conference. They showed up the first week of the playoffs without their
top two players (who were on vacation) but still managed to knock off the No. 1
seed. A week later, they upended the No. 2 seed.
A thrilling, 6-5 victory over the Scouts capped the improbable season finale in
the championship game.
Nordiques captain Jason Surrette, 27, of Beverly, said, "I made a little pep
talk before the game. `Let's lay it on the line!' I told the team. We got a
fluke goal that hit off a player to give us a 6-5 lead. Then I put my best
players out there for the last five minutes and killed the clock. We stayed
there for an hour after the game, saying, `We won! We won!' "
There are different team names every season, keeping the game fun. The current
Saturday teams are all named for cereals like Golden Grahams, Cocoa Puffs,
Frosted Flakes, and Special K. Gardner's team, which earned its first win last
week to improve to 1-4, changed its name from Shredded Wheat to Totally
Shredded. Maybe a trade will help it a bit.
Many of the players have nicknames their stick mates have given them. Some of
those include "Plastic Foot," "J-Muddy," "Cone" (a goalie), "Dwarf," and even
"J-Lo." This all may seem silly, but quirky team names and humorous nicknames
keep the focus on playing the game for the love of it.
A number of the guys hang around for all of the games, not just the ones they
are playing in. "If I'm playing the last game of the night, I'll be here for the
first game," Surrette said.
Dan Leveillee, a 35-year-old from Beverly, credited Gardner for keeping the
competition high but emotions low. "A lot of it is how Dave prescreens all new
players. He'll ask them with a straight face, `What would you do if a guy
cross-checks you down? Would you hit him back?' "
The league's website contains game summaries, photos, scouting reports,
standings, scoring leaders, and a league merchandise page. But the most popular
page on the site is the message board. Players talk about everything from
politics to sports to party invitations.
Less than a week after the Nordiques claimed victory in the Tuesday night
championship game, Gardner and the team captains had dinner and conducted the
draft for the next Tuesday night season. Exactly seven days later, the new
campaign began with new teams and a few new faces. But the thing that remained
constant was a love of playing hockey with your buddies.
For information on the Eastern Mass. Roller Hockey League, visit
www.icehog.com/hockey