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Hackeyes are at Home on Iowa Ponds

08/25/2014, 4:30pm MDT
By Greg Bates - Special to USAHockey.com

Andrew Sherburne and his buddies were out playing pond hockey a few years ago when one of the guys hit his head on the ice.

A call was placed to 911, and Glenn Pauley was one of the first responders.

“The first thing he said when he walks down on the ice is, ‘Next time you guys are out here, you’ve got to call me,’” Sherburne recalled. “We figured we were in trouble and we had to clear it with somebody, so we said we’d make sure we can play next time. He said, ‘No, no, no. I mean I want to play next time.’”

Sherburne and Pauley fast became friends and are now teammates on the Hackeyes in the Iowa City Hockey Adult League (ICHAL) in Iowa City, Iowa.

Pauley, who is the adult league director, played in the league for one season before founding the Hackeyes in January. That’s when he invited Sherburne and Sherburne’s longtime friend Tommy Haines to play.

“He brought us in from the pond,” said Sherburne about Pauley.

Sherburne and Haines have a great bond on and off the ice. The pair met over a decade ago in Minneapolis and collaborated to put out their first documentary, “Pond Hockey.” Haines was the director and Sherburne the producer of the high-acclaimed film that examined the changing culture of pond hockey.

“I think we just happened into covering this growing but passionate subculture, and it was really fun to be there,” Sherburne said.

The documentary was released in 2008 through Northland Films and followed six teams all the way through a pond hockey tournament. The documentary ended up focusing two teams, one of which made it to the championship game. It also featured interviews with hockey stars Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Neal Broten.

“It really started out as a small project where we were just going to follow some teams from the tournament to talking to all these hockey greats by the end of it,” Haines said.

Before joining the Hackeyes, Sherburne, who is from St. Paul, had never played organized hockey in his life. Haines hadn’t competed for a couple of decades since growing up in hockey hotbed in the Iron Range of northern Minnesota.

“Down here, I think most guys understand we’re just glad to get a group of guys to play hockey in Iowa,” Haines said.

The Hackeyes — who get their name because they’re self-proclaimed hacks on the ice and live in the college town of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes — feature a broad mix of ages ranging from 18 to the late 50s.

“It’s mostly light-hearted and it’s a good group of guys,” Haines said. “That general camaraderie that comes with playing hockey is just a blast. Even though we’re in our 30s, we’re still trying to win the Stanley Cup. It’s fun out there, but it gets competitive.”

Skill sets range greatly in the ICHAL since a large number of players are university students. The Hawkeyes are one of the older teams in the eight-team league.

“Generally with the way our games go, the first period we do fine and our legs are with us,” Haines said. “When it gets to be late second or third, that’s where the young whippersnappers cruise around us.”

Sherburne and Haines like the change of pace from playing outdoor pond hockey to indoor on a rink. It took Sherburne a little time to adjust, but he loves the game. Pond hockey is usually played 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 and regular hockey is a different style at 5-on-5 plus a goalie.

“It’s a good mix for us,” Haines said. “We played so much during the winter time that it’s nice now in the spring that you can get a bunch of guys and play every Sunday and screw around on the rink indoors as well.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

USA Hockey News

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