Sports Reporter
jameyer@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
Over his four years with the Colorado Mesa hockey program, senior Matt Meiring has witnessed its highest highs and lowest lows. Now, he hopes to witness its imminent resurrection.
Meiring just ended his first season as head coach, finishing with a 8-12 record and a lot of optimism. Contingents of young players from Wyoming and the Littleton area put CMU on the map as a club hockey destination heading into the 2013-14 season. But Meiring said that he’s lucky there’s a hockey team to coach, and without support and effort from CMU and former players, there might not be a team.
In 2009-10, Meiring was a freshman at CMU and a forward on the hockey team. The Mavericks were playing solid hockey, had an arena to play in, and a small but loyal group of fans. Games were at Glacier Arena, which was a little bit claustrophobic, but incredibly loud. Fans, in various states of inebriation, would bang on the glass and curse at opposing players.
In the summer of 2010, due to a refrigeration malfunction, Glacier closed. The only full ice sheet in Grand Junction was gone, and the CMU hockey team was essentially homeless.
That fall, an outdoor rink opened off North Avenue, giving hockey players at all levels a place to practice. The ice sheet wasn’t big enough for games, but it meant that teams could get on the ice.
That winter, a junior squirt team won a state title. Things looked good for a young CMU squad that was brimming with talent. Then, partway through the season, coach Cameron Dudek left.
“I don’t know if he was fired or left on his own, I can’t confirm anything or really speak to that,” Meiring said. “But he left in the middle of the season, and with the rink (Glacier Ice Rink) closing, everything fell apart.”
To their credit, the Mavericks won three of those five road games despite functioning with player coaches. Players Cody Cooper and Ben Guska slid into the coaching role during the five-game 2011-12 season. The stunted schedule landed CMU on probation with the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the governing body of club hockey, leaving the team ineligible for postseason play in 2012-13. But it was Guska and Cooper that picked the program up.
That summer, Meiring said Cooper and Guska approached the CMU Athletic Department about getting the program back on track, and trying to make Grand Junction a club hockey destination.
“Ben Guska and Cody Cooper, some former players, got together with the athletic department here,” Meiring said. “They got everything back together for us. They got the program a backbone, got us back in the ACHA.”
According to Meiring, once again becoming a full member of the ACHA, which the Mavericks accomplished by playing more than the required 16 game season, is the most important step to providing discipline and a backbone.
“It gives this team something to work for,” Meiring said. “ACHA sets a minimum GPA, credit enrollment and allows us to be playoff eligible. It allows our efforts to pay off. No team is going to waste money scheduling a team that won’t help them reach their 16 games to be eligible.”
After a successful season that could have never happened, players are starting to feel optimistic.
Charlie Barnum was a freshman when the program began to unravel, but the junior center said that recruiting and just being organized has given him hope in the programs future.
“We picked up a couple new forwards this semester and we’re getting some new defenders next year, I’m excited about that.” Barnum said. “It was a tough transition when Cam left. There was a period where we just weren’t organized and it was hard to get motivated. Now we’re organized and there is a lot to look forward to.”
In the next few years, it is possible that the City of Grand Junction will purchase and operate Glacier. Parks and Recreation Director Rob Schoeber said in an interview with KJCT that a Glacier purchase is “on a list of potential capital projects.”
Meiring said that a rink would make supporting the hockey team cheaper, as they wouldn’t have to travel to Eagle to play games.
“That would be huge for our program and drawing guys here,” Meiring said of the city potentially purchasing Glacier. “It’s one of the biggest hurdles right now. Eagle has a nice arena up there. It’s not the greatest having to travel, I guess, but we’re just excited they let us have ice time up there.”
Sophomore forward Phillip Fink, who has never played at Glacier, said he’s excited to see the season the team could have if they can play home games in Grand Junction.
“The hockey program at CMU has a bright future, and I hope by the time I leave it is established and we’re playing home games in front of our own school and fans,” Fink said. “All the travel and early practices are worth it, because at the end of the day we just want to continue playing hockey.
“I just hope we have home ice before I’m gone.”
Meiring said that regardless of whether the hockey team secures a home venue, this group of young players is capable of expanding the program in a hockey hotbed like Colorado.
“We’re on the upswing as a whole,” Meiring said. “There may have been teams with better records at this school, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team with this much talent as a group. There’s a lot of potential between these guys.”
“I think Colorado is an attractive state for anyone,” Meiring said. “For hockey, in particular, it’s great. This school is affordable and we’re getting financial support while a lot of the teams we play don’t get that from their schools.”
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