Benefield: SRJC hockey riding hot streak on ice (w/video)

So you didn’t know Santa Rosa Junior College had an ice hockey team? Seems the guys from Boise State didn’t, either.

The Broncos, who trotted onto Snoopy’s Home Ice a ranked Division II club team, were dealt a 5-2 loss Thursday night at the hands of the D-III Bear Cubs (who are called the Polar Bears when they are on the ice). Perhaps more galling still for the Broncos was that the two Boise State goals came in garbage time.

“They were on a 20-game win streak up to that point as well,” said Polar Bears head coach Mike Kovanis. “For us, it’s kind of a big win for the program.”

But you can’t really blame Boise State for not knowing about the steamroller that lurked behind the cute Swiss chalet facade at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena. Seems like the Santa Rosa Junior College ice hockey team might be the best-kept secret in the area … except to the 200 or so fans who regularly pack the stands to see the Polar Bears in action.

Free entry to games? Top notch college club hockey? A team ranked No. 1 in the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association league amid the likes of UC Davis and Stanford? The Polar Bears have it all, including a hot streak the team hopes to ride into a postseason run.

“We are looking pretty good,” Kovanis said. “We are at the top and we are trying to stay there.”

And the same rink conditions that the Boise State team groused about on their Facebook page make Snoopy’s Home Ice a unique place to play - and watch.

“Interesting game to say the least. Team never adjusted to the rink; 3.5’ boards with no glass except behind nets; slow ice, we continually overskated the puck and passes that would normally be on or out front would end up behind,” the Broncos’ post read.

But for fans, the no-glass, all-net barrier between skaters and sitters is a draw.

The sound is loud, the sticks smacking the ice are sharp and the players zip by the stands so close you can smell them. That part might not be a plus, but it lends to a certain sense of place.

And really, where else might one hear the dulcet tones of Beastie Boys, Chic, Henry Nilsson, AC/DC, Taio Cruz and Ram Jam all in one evening?

And of course, fans dance and shout to Gary Glitter after every goal. That’s kind of a given.

“We are kind of used to it - most games our barn is packed,” Kovanis said. “We have games it’s two deep around the glass. It’s a big boost for us.”

At the Boise State game, I wandered into the packed stands and bumped into a gaggle of sign-holding, self-described “hockey freaks.”

Parents of a player? Nope. Neighbor? Nope. Nephew? Nope. They come for the play. And a hockey fan here can’t even buy a beer at the Warm Puppy Cafe - this is a hot-chocolate-only kind of event.

They just love good hockey and the Polar Bears deliver.

“It’s really a treat to have this level of hockey locally,” said Dean Hamlin of Santa Rosa. He regularly attends the games with his girlfriend, Kim Gorman, and two friends, Carla and Bob Burkett.

“We are hockey freaks,” Carla said. “We live and breathe it.”

Considering Carla Burkett had to be at work at 4 a.m. the morning after the Polar Bears skated to the far side of 11 p.m. Thursday night, freak might be an apt description. But these freaks are having fun with just hot chocolate to fuel them.

“We get our hockey fix right here,” Bob Burkett said.

It’s Bob who occasionally runs the length of the stands waving a sign reading “Bring the Ruckus.” Bob got a workout against Boise State thanks to forward Josiah Nikkel, who scored twice, including a spectacular, behind-the-back whiz-bang opening goal that Kovanis called a “spinorama.”

“It was a highlight-reel goal,” Kovanis said.

“I just read the play. I kind of felt the defender and made a spin move and knew where the net was and it happened to go in,” Nikkel said.

Nikkel has just “happened” to find the net 19 times this season and sits in second place in the PCHA points race with three league games to play.

In another twist unique to club hockey, the Polar Bears’ roster waxes and wanes - affected fairly dramatically by student-athletes’ grades, jobs, transfer prospects. The lineup this month is different by a handful of guys from what the team started with in the fall. But for a core group of players, some locals and some from across the country, the team provides a community not found easily on the junior college circuit.

“It’s really an awesome social outlet,” said forward Stephen Wolmarans, who netted a nifty goal against Boise State last week. “We are just really fortunate to have a talented group of guys here in a kind of non-traditional hockey community.”

Wolmarans, a transplant from North Carolina and an elder statesman on the team at 29, was drawn into the fold after a team manager saw him playing in an adult league. After quitting his job and working from home, Wolmarans started taking college classes “out of necessity” for both social and intellectual stimulation. And the hockey part? Pure bonus.

“It’s really cool for me to meet new people this way and get to share something with others that I can do well,” he said. “But it’s also been nice to kind of be there for the younger guys or be sort of in a more leadership position. I know what it was like to be 18, 19, 20 years old. It is a really tough time, I think, especially for guys.

“It’s a cool little community at very different stages in their experience,” he said.

And Wolmarans can’t get over the fans in this “non-traditional” hockey community.

“It kind of makes you feel like you are playing in a small town in Michigan or Montana where the whole village comes out on a Friday night to see what the team can put together,” he said.

And of course, freaks are welcomed.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com and on Twitter @benefield