Hockey is having its moment on screen. Heated Rivalry and Off Campus have pulled new fans toward a sport known for cold rinks, hard hits and fast play. At Cal Poly, hockey takes on a less-known, scrappier form: roller hockey. While they both have hockey in the name, roller and ice hockey are very different. Instead of skating on ice, roller hockey players compete on plastic tiles in inline skates, chasing a lighter plastic puck rather than the traditional heavy rubber one.
Each team has four skaters and a goalie, compared to ice hockey’s five skaters and a goalie. While physicality is a major part of many ice hockey leagues, roller hockey penalizes intentional contact and prioritizes stickhandling and positioning.
Cal Poly founded its roller hockey program in 1993 and has competed in the Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League (WCRHL) since 1995. In its 33-year history, Cal Poly has won regionals four times and has consistently finished in the top eight nationally. However, it still seeks its first national title, coming closest in 2011 with a second-place finish.
As it searches for its first national championship, Cal Poly Roller Hockey is losing the indoor rink that has served as its practice facility, leaving the club searching for a new place to skate. The team has historically practiced once a week at Central Coast Sports Arena in Santa Maria, about a 45-minute drive from campus. But the facility, which also serves as a youth hockey and public skating rink, is expected to remove its rinks after a change in management, according to club president Apollo Oase.
The club, which has about 22 players and fields two teams, is now training at Santa Rosa Park, an outdoor rink just around a mile from campus, and will create new challenges for the program.
Player Max Gorelik said the team was “kind of devastated” when they learned the rink could close.
“You’re kind of powerless in this situation if somebody wants to buy out the current owner,” Gorelik said.
A huge problem with the move to Santa Rosa Park is the damage it does to the equipment. Oase said the harder surface wears down equipment more quickly and shreds the team’s sticks.
Gorelik said moving outdoors would require many players to buy or switch out equipment.
“First of all, you need different wheels because it’s a different surface,” Gorelik said. “You kind of want a different set of gloves and pants. When you fall on concrete, it’s going to rip easier.”
The impact is especially steep for goalies, Oase said, because they slide across the surface during play. Their specialized hockey sliders, which attach to goalie pads and contain small rolling balls, can cost around $200.
The club is exploring different long-term options. Oase said the Santa Maria rink’s operators have offered to donate its boards and tiles to Cal Poly Roller Hockey once the facility is removed.
“We just need to figure out a spot to put it,” Oase said.
The team is exploring potential locations and hopes to find a place close by that could eventually give the club a long-term home.
If no new home is found, the next closest rink is in Santa Barbara and “their rink is an ice rink so we’d probably just become an ice hockey team instead,” Oase said.
The rink problem arises as Cal Poly Roller Hockey steps into a season that runs from October through April. The team travels about once a month for tournaments, with stops in Corona, Irvine and San Jose. If they qualify, the club could also travel to the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association championships in the spring at the Irvine Inline.
Last season, Cal Poly won the Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League’s Division II championship. The team is now trying to build on that success while going through these bumps in the road.
Students organize tournament travel, hotel arrangements, practice requests and communication with Cal Poly Club Sports and ASI. The team is largely funded through player dues of about $700 per year, according to Oase. Club Sports typically contributes about $1,500 annually, he said.
Those costs cover more than just competition. Players supply most of their own equipment, while the club pays for tournament registration, rink time, conference fees and travel logistics.
For now, the team is preparing to adapt. Outdoor practices at Santa Rosa Park may wear down equipment faster, but they allow Cal Poly Roller Hockey to stay active while it searches for a better, more permanent solution.
“Hockey’s hockey at the end of the day,” Gorelik said.
The club’s immediate future may be uncertain, but its players don’t plan to let the loss of a rink end the program.
“The club isn’t going anywhere,” Oase said.