Every Tuesday at 4 a.m., freshman Cole Adaskaveg wakes up, drives an hour and a half to San Mateo, and pushes weighted sleds next to an ice rink.
Adaskaveg, a Redwood student who competitively plays hockey, skates for the Golden State Elite Eagles Under-14 team, which is ranked 17th in the nation.
According to Adaskaveg, the team is made up of the most talented kids from the San Mateo and San Jose area, as well as some players from San Francisco.
Adaskaveg mainly plays the center position for the Eagles, but also occasionally plays the wing. He said that the role of a center is taking face-offs and splitting opposing teams’ defenses to attempt a shot.
“There’s no better feeling than skating into an open hole in the opponent’s defense, receiving a perfect pass, and slapping the puck by the goalie,” Adaskaveg said.
Last year, the Golden State Elite Eagles won two tournament championships. They also received an invite last November to participate in the highly anticipated Bauer International Invite in Chicago, in which they lost all of their games.
Adaskaveg said that although people don’t associate California with hockey, the sport is very competitive in the state.
This season the Eagles have both an A and AA team. Adaskaveg said that 75 players tried out for both teams and about 40 players were cut.
Adaskaveg is required to practice three days a week. He said he wakes up at before school to drive down to San Mateo for 5:30 a.m. practices, and barely makes it back to school on time.
He said that although the practices are very physically demanding, it pays off because games are exhausting.
“You have to juggle skating at a high speed, handling a puck with the stick, knowing how to shoot, and most importantly, you have to keep your head up or you’re going to get demolished by another player,” Adaskaveg said.
He said that along with the tough physical aspect of playing hockey, another challenging aspect of playing the sport in Northern California is that there is little enthusiasm or appreciation for it.
“It does bother me on some level that not a lot of people at Redwood know the sport that much, but I totally understand that, coming from the East Coast where hockey is just as big as football and baseball,” Adaskaveg said.
He said he has begun to think about his future in hockey after high school.
“I’m looking to play Juniors, a semi-pro league right after high school, because in Juniors you have a high chance of getting scouted by pro scouts to go the National Hockey League and get drafted,” Adaskaveg said.
