All

Roads Lead to Roller

Theres a saying around the hockey community that all roads lead to mens league. Its a way to
keep everyone humble. After spending a few years as a player, being involved with NCRHA
Coast 2 Coast and even half a season as a coach, Im convinced theres a better saying out there
and it has nothing to do with keeping people humble.

All roads lead to roller.

Heres a quick story. My sophomore year of college I was walking down the busiest part of our
campus, where bike lanes and walkways converge into chaos. There was a kid riding his
longboard wearing a Revision Hockey shirt and he was skating right into the path I was about to
walk through. I had never seen this kid so I decided to try to stop him. Yo! Dude! You play
roller hockey?

Right as he was passing me, he stopped abruptly and hopped off of his board. Wait, what?!
How did you know? Do you play? I told him the shirt kind of gave it away. After talking to him
for a minute or two, I found out that the kid wearing a roller hockey companys shirt didnt
even know our school had a roller hockey team. He ended up trying out and the rest is history.

There are over 1500 student athletes that are part of 100 or so college roller hockey programs
across the country. I figured there were more stories to tell that were a heck of a bit more
interesting than mine. Heres a few of the ones we were able to hunt down.

All Roads Lead to Roller

Wes Fry had never played organized roller hockey before. His best friend and Phoenix Jr.
Coyotes ice hockey teammate Stetson Dircks had grown up playing both sports but focused
solely on ice after middle school. In the fall of 2014, Stetson decided he would give roller
another shot at Arizona State University which meant Wes would be giving it his first shot.
Around the same time, Lyndsey Fry was back at Harvard University for her senior year, a few
months removed from her experience with Team USA at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

The following spring, Wes Fry and his ASU teammates embarked on their trip to Missouri for
last years 2015 NCRHA National Championships. Lyndsey Fry was getting ready to graduate
from Harvard. A few weeks removed from leading her Crimson team all the way to the final
game at the DI NCAA Womens National Championships, and a much-needed surgery, she
hobbled onto a plane with her parents to surprise her brother at his tournament and cheer him
on, just as he had done in Sochi and in her years at Harvard.

As the puck dropped on the Sun Devils first game, the Fry family started cheering in the stands.
Wes looked up to see it was his family who was cheering. His sister had orchestrated the whole
thing. Throughout the week in Missouri, Lyndsey got to know the guys on her brothers team.
They would joke, so are you playing next season or what? From the stands, Fry watched her
brother and his team intently. I can definitely play with these guys, she thought to herself.

Wes was always my biggest fan and my rock, and (after that week in Missouri) I knew I wanted
to fully dive into this. So she did, spending the weeks that followed the tournament looking
into the classes she would take, the rehab necessary to get back to full strength after her injury,
and eventually getting onto the tile at the end of the summer.

After trying out for the team and a few months of practices, Lyndsey Fry suited up alongside her
brother Wes for her first collegiate roller hockey game last October. Shes appreciated the
support her teammates have given her along the way. Its been humbling, she said, explaining
that roller hockeys nuances gave her a challenge that helped her stay driven to get better. The
Fry family has been in the stands supporting Lyndsey, Wes and the rest of the ASU team at
every single game this season.

One year after Lyndsey Fry hobbled into the stands on crutches to watch her brother Wes play
at the NCRHA National Championships, theyll both get to make a run for a title. Together.

Its going to be just another great experience. I wouldnt want to do it with any other team.

All Roads Lead to Roller

Mia Becker walked into her Materials Science Engineering class this past fall, her first semester
at the University of Tennessee. After spending two years attending Boston University and
stopping pucks for their NCAA Division I team, the Virginia native decided she wanted a change
of scenery, and would leave hockey behind to focus on another passion and her future career,
engineering. Just because she was done playing didnt mean she couldnt throw all of her stuff
for class in a Shattuck St. Marys backpack from her years of prep school hockey in Minnesota.

Austin Gomez knows the game hockey well enough to know that Shattuck St. Marys is arguably
the best prep school for hockey in the United States. He also loves playing roller hockey,
representing his school and the challenge of trying to field a team that can make a run for a
national title. Anytime Im talking to someone at school and they have an interest in hockey, I
try to get them to come out and play, just to have fun and stuff, he told me. So naturally, when
he spotted a girl in his Materials Science Engineering class with an SSM Hockey backpack, he
wasnt going to pass up a chance to try to add a talented player to the Tennessee Volunteers
Roller Hockey team.

I just went up and started talking to her about hockey and told her about the team. She was
really hesitant, but somehow I convinced her to come out and practice with us just one time to
see if she would like it, Gomez said, recalling what seemed like a shot in the dark at the time.

When Mia Becker came out to practice for the first time, she wasnt sure what to expect.
Playing well enough to impress a team that would benefit from having another goalie,
especially a talented one, along with hitting it off with Gomez and the rest of the team was
enough to keep her interested. All of the guys were great and I had fun, so I decided to keep
skating with them, she said. After suiting up at practice with the team through the end of the
fall semester, she played her first games this Spring.

With a goalie wearing white and red BU pads between the pipes, the Volunteers went on to win
the SECRHL Division II title and are hoping to make a deep run at Nationals. Beckers excited
about the opportunity to compete for a title, but ready to have some fun playing in front of her
family with her new team and friends in front of her.

Gomez, when asked about college roller hockey, concluded, the friendships formed are strong,
and theyre bonded by the love of the sport. Even people that youve just met... theyre
instantly friends, mentioning that he cant wait to see the guys he became friends with at last
years Nationals.

As for Becker, shes banking on a four legged member of the squad to help her and the rest of
the Volunteers make some new friends. Oh, Levi? Hes basically our mascot, youll meet him at
Nattys.

All Roads Lead to Roller

Tommy Potts moved into his Bethel University dorm in the fall of 2014 ready to begin both
freshman year and his collegiate baseball career. He had received a scholarship to play baseball
for the Wildcats and jumped at the opportunity. The rest of the guys living on Tommys dorm
floor were all members of the roller hockey team. After getting to know a bunch of the guys in
the dorm, he quickly became friends with them. When they werent busy with hockey or
classes, they were hanging out.

Life on the diamond didnt seem to live up to the expectations that Potts had for his college
experience, so he went to his baseball coach and asked if there was a way he would be able to
keep his scholarship if he quit the team and stayed involved with another sport on campus. The
coach told him he would see what he could do. The Chicago native figured if the scholarship
situation worked out, he would try roller hockey.

Keep in mind Tommy Potts had never played a single shift of hockey. Anywhere.

Well, the scholarship situation worked out, and Potts was welcomed into the Bethel Roller
Hockey program. Potts spent his freshman year serving as Bethels team manager, learning
more about the sport, while practicing with the team and soaking in as much floor time as
possible up until the school year ended.

Fast forward to last fall -- Potts returned to Bethel to keep his dream alive. His scholarship was
still intact. With the support of the entire program, Potts earned a roster spot and spent hours
working towards becoming a player that deserved playing time. Cody Bryant, his friend and
roommate, talked about how it all worked: His first semester was a little rough, but keep in
mind this was all new to Tommy. We all took turns working with him to master the basics.

After getting some playing time and improving during the fall, Potts was ready to show what he
could do in the spring. He felt more comfortable on his skates and more confident on the floor
in game situations. The hours of hard work put in by Potts and so many of his teammates had
finally paid off when he scored his first goal. The guys have all accepted me and helped me to
improve my game as much as possible, Potts stated, expressing his gratitude for his coaches
and teammates.

This isnt a one-time thing, said Bryant; Potts intends on continuing with the roller hockey
program at Bethel as he pursues his degree. Not everyone can throw on blades and play
college roller hockey, but Tommy did and still is. Theres no question hell keep working
towards getting better so he can keep playing.

So whats the craziest part of this whole journey for Tommy Potts? I can now say that I am a
collegiate roller hockey player, he said, just a kid who was falling in love with the game for the
first time, playing with his best friends.

All Roads Lead to Roller

All roads lead to College Roller Hockey. But why do they all end up leading to college roller
hockey? Well, ASUs Lyndsey Fry and Hunter Stafford of Arkansas had a few final thoughts.

Fry: Roller has that sort of atmosphere around it. You could see that (at Nationals) with the
teams supporting each other. Its fun to play hard but also laugh and have a good time. This is
competitive and we want to win but theres no secret were there to have a lot of fun. Theres a
reason that we all make the sacrifice, commit our time to it, to be there.

Stafford: The league is competitive, we go on the floor and skate hard but when were done
we leave that on the floor and we hang out with the other teams. Weve become friends with
guys from all over the place. The Akron guys, the Tennessee guys, the ASU guys, I talk to those
guys every other week. We stay in touch through social media, we text and we talk about how
the seasons going. Im excited for Nationals. We get to go play some really good hockey but we
get to see our old friends and make some new ones too. Thats just the environment roller
hockey provides you with.


Thats what I love about Roller Hockey. Thats what I love about this league.

Thats what I love about Nationals.



If you think youve got a good story, email us at ncrhacoast2coast@gmail.com or if youre on
Twitter, tweet us @ncrha_c2c. The best submissions will get some attention.

Kevin Smith plays for Arizona State University and is a co-founder of NCRHA Coast 2 Coast, an
independent organization made up of current and former players covering league news and
working with to grow the college roller hockey community and the sport of roller hockey. For
more on C2C, visit NCRHA.org.