SIU roller hockey a hit, even with women

Club kicks off season with unlikely member

Factoid:Anyone interested in the SIU Roller Hockey Club should contact Pete Spitler at 549-6813

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Hockey is known as a sport for tough guys missing teeth, anyone born north of the Great Lakes and … petite mothers?

Michelle Velasco, an SIU student and mother of a 6-year old boy, is the starting defenseman for the Fish Sticks, one of five teams competing in the B-league of the SIU Roller Hockey club.

“It’s a blast,” said Velasco, who stands 5-foot-3-inches tall. “It lets the aggression out, and there’s a lot of big guys to knock over.”

Velasco thinks enough of roller hockey to make time in her busy schedule (which she describes as 6 a.m. to midnight every day) to skate around with much larger players on weekday nights on an old and poorly lit tennis court across the street from the Quads on South Wall Street.

Her son, Elias, even comes along occasionally. He is easily recognizable by his cheers of “go mommy, beat their butts.”

And she does, according to fellow player Bill Stuczynski.

“She’s no girlie-girl out there; she’s a tough player,” Stuczynski said. “She goes around, she knocks people down, she’s aggressive and always chases down the ball.”

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The roller hockey club has been seeking more women and minority players for years, according to club secretary and head referee Pete Spitler, but Velasco is still the only woman involved in SIU roller hockey.

One reason for the gender gap is the notion that a woman has to be exceptionally tough to play roller hockey, especially with men. According to Velasco, that notion is correct.

“You have to be special. It’s hockey, so you’re going to take a beating,” Velasco said. “It’s not rough like you would see on TV, but you’re going to get knocked down and you’re going to get knocked over, so you can’t be a wussy about it.”

Roller hockey is much more open than regulation ice hockey, thereby making it less physical, but occasionally players will get rammed into the five-foot high fence surrounding the sides of the court.

The club also plays without hockey rules it considers ridiculous and unnecessary. Icing, offsides and two-line pass rules are not enforced in SIU roller hockey games, even at the elite, four-team A-league games.

Most participants play in B-league, which may be low on talent, but is high on excitement, according to Spitler.

“A-league is more or less the elite, but B-league had a mix of good players, mediocre players and beginners,” Spitler said. “But then again, B-league is the fun league.”

The lighthearted spirit of the B-league is evident by simply reading the team names.

Last Thursday, the Wall Street Bullies, Spitler’s team, skated to a 6-6 tie with Dr. Thickness, which will be playing the Fish Sticks in the near future.

For serious and experienced players, some members of the A-league play on a traveling team that competes in the Great Plains Division of the Collegiate Roller Hockey League (CRHL), playing against other universities in the region.

But Spitler said the club is looking for players of all talent levels, and he shares his passion for the game with anyone who will listen.

“I love the flow of the game,” Spitler said. “I’ve never seen a game where momentum can change with a big hit, a goal or even a hit post.”

Velasco received her first penalty of the season last week:two minutes for tripping. But like most hockey players, she says she didn’t do it, even if it looked like a penalty.

“They say it was tripping,” Velasco said. “I say he just tripped.”

Reporter Michael Brenner can be reached at [email protected]