You may have heard that Nic Dowd is a star hockey player for St. Cloud State University, the highly-ranked team that comes to town this weekend.  You may have also heard that Dowd is from Huntsville.  Dowd, like the Geoffrion brothers before him, attended Culver Military Academy before playing junior hockey.  Dowd isn’t alone in Southern players leaving for northern climes to hone their game: notably, Jared Ross moved to Detroit to play for Detroit Catholic Central before coming back to Huntsville to play.

We asked Nic to talk to us about playing hockey in Huntsville, his move to St. Cloud, and what it will mean for him to play in front of friends and family this weekend.  My thanks go out to Nic, Tom Nelson at SCSU sports information, and my partner Michael for transcribing the audio.

At his roots, Nic is a Huntsville hockey kid.  “I grew up playing in the Huntsville Amateur Hockey Association with the Huntsville Chargers all the way up until my freshman year of high school,” said Dowd, “and then I played AAA hockey for the TPH Thunder in their first year of existence. They’ve been developing kids throughout the Southeast in a great way.”

We asked Dowd what it would take to keep players in the South during their developmental years, and he said that “it’s going to be pretty difficult. There are a lot of advantages to going to prep school. Realistically, I don’t know if there’s a high need for hockey-oriented prep schools in the South.”

But as a good alumnus should, Dowd has a lot of faith in his old organization. “I think the Thunder are doing a great job, and I think the amateur hockey associations in Huntsville have done a great job for providing kids with an opportunity to play. I know that TPH and Alabama-Huntsville join up throughout the year and the summers to produce summer camps to allow kids to play, so I think that’s a great start.”

Did Nic want to play at UAH?  “Definitely growing up I wanted to play for Huntsville. That was the goal for a lot of kids growing up and still is in Huntsville.”  When asked if he had a favorite Charger, Dowd replied, “One player I watched a lot was Jared Ross. Obviously, he was kind of the stud on Huntsville back in the day. I was pretty fortunate to get to know him personally, and we keep in touch when I come home over the summers. He guided me in the right direction and let me skate with him over the summers and worked out together.”

Dowd is among the many voices in the community that believe that UAH’s presence is vital to the area’s hockey development. “Without the Chargers being there, I’d say a lot of kids would not even realized college hockey existed,” said Dowd. “That was my first exposure to be able to watch great hockey.”

We asked Dowd about how he came to St. Cloud.  “In juniors, I only had a couple of schools that were talking to me at the time. Coach [Bob] Motzko came all the way out to Wenatchee, Washington, which was the team I was playing for in the North American League.”

Dowd was clearly impressed with Motzko’s interest. “For a coach to come all the way out there and take time away from his family and his friends and his current hockey team, it meant a lot to me and showed me that he was invested in me as a player. I felt very comfortable investing myself in St. Cloud State.”

If you ask Dowd about St. Cloud’s organization, his pride in it clearly shows through.  “I’ve been extremely privileged to be part of this organization and this university,” Dowd said, “starting from our athletics directors, both past and current, all the way down to our coaching staff and the professors here at the university. I could not have asked for a better experience in my four years and wish I could go back and do it all over again and really soak up my freshman year all the way up to my senior year.

UAH visited St. Cloud in 2012-13, games that the Huskies won in an 8-3, 4-0 series where Dowd scored the first goal in each game.  When asked about the experience, Dowd termed it “interesting”, but he’s clearly looking forward to playing at the VBC.  “To play down there is going to be a lot different than playing up here,” Dowd said. “I’m not playing kids who are from Huntsville — they’re from all over the country and the world.”

Dowd is clear on who he represents.  “As a visiting team, I look at St. Cloud State as the university I represent,” Dowd said, “and it’s my team. Although Alabama-Huntsville was my team growing up, St. Cloud State is going to be my alma mater when I graduate.

Dowd is ready for tomorrow night.  “It’s really come full circle to be able to play at a great university and represent St. Cloud and to be able to play my hometown university is definitely something special.”

Pardon me if you’ve heard this before: Doug Ross, 25 years; Danton Cole, three years; Chris Luongo, two yrs; Kurt Kleinendorst, one year.  As I got ready to interview our seniors, I thought about this: when you grow up, you play bantams and midgets, a level or two of juniors, and then you go to college.  At all of those stops, you change coaches, but when you come to college, you expect some stability.

The UAH 2014 seniors have not had that stability.  How has this affected them?

“At the beginning of the year, it’s something that the seniors talked about,” said Brice Geoffrion.  “We looked at how many freshman started here that year and how few of us are left.  There was 12 of us, and now it’s just four.”

“When you play junior, you get accustomed to playing for a new coach every year or two, so in that way, it’s similar,” Mat Hagen said.  “But for the program, I think that it’s great that they’ve got a guy who’s going to be here for at least the next three years, and I’m sure that he’ll be here much longer.”

“It’s been tough,” CJ Groh said.  “It’s been a roller coaster for me, as I’ve never been able to really establish myself with a coach and get an understanding.  I think now we’re going in the right direction with Coach Corbett, but it’s definitely tough.”

“It’s been hard in terms of program identity and stability,” Alex Allan said.  “As a player, having to change systems every year is difficult.  It’s hard having a new guy looking at you every year and thinking, ‘Can this guy play in my system?’  Guys may tighten up more a bit than they should.  But on the other end, it’s been a good learning experience having to work with different personalities, systems, and the way people doing things.”

It’s more than just the voice in a player’s ear on the bench — it’s who brought them there.  “I was recruited by Lou and Danton, and there’s guys in here that were recruited by Kleinendorst, so it’s a mix,” Hagen said.  Geoffrion said, “It was Coach [Dennis Williams] who first reached out to me.”  Williams, you’ll remember, was a UAH assistant before taking the Bowling Green job … in 2009.

Corbett has a lot of expectations for the team and his seniors.

“The identity of this team is that we’re better than we have been in the past years,” Geoffrion said. ” We’ve really been needing a skill line, and I think that we might have that in [Alex] Allan, [Chad] Brears, and [Regan] Soquila.  But we’re also going to have to outwork every team every night.  We’ll have to be in better shape so we can be better in the third and outlast our opponents in the time of the game where they’re won.”

“He’s big on details and discipline,” Hagen said.  “The first thing that he wants is for you to be a good person first and then worry about what you are as a hockey player.”

“I think that he’s more of a factor in our education,” said Groh.  “All of my teachers tell me that he’s on top of things and finding out how things are going.  He seems like a really good players’ coach.”

“He’s pretty easy to read,” Allan said.  “He doesn’t say much to me, but I know what I expect from myself.”

“Coach Corbett has been great,” Geoffrion added.  “He’s passionate, and you can really tell that he knows what he’s doing.  What happened in the past with the other coaches is done.”

Graduation looms for these men.  Hagen switched from business into civil engineering, which is the opposite of how that normally goes.  “It’ll take me another semester after the switch, but it’s been good for me as I’m going into engineering.  This is definitely the town for that.  I would’ve never thought growing up in BC and then moving to Ottawa that I would come to Alabama, become an engineer, and settle down for the long term.”

Geoffrion and Allan are due to finish on time, and Groh said that he’ll need a summer to finish.  Allan is looking to play professionally.

“Depending on how my year goes, I’ll decide if I want to try to play longer.  I’m close to getting my Italian citizenship — playing over there would be an awesome experience.  When it comes down to European hockey, it comes down to the quota on imports, so if you have citizenship in that country, you’re not counted against the quota.”

Adversity was the theme of our discussions.  Mat Hagen was introspective when asked about that topic.  “I got a phone call from Coach Luongo offering me a scholarship.  It feels like a long time ago.  I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened.  Both CJ and I have had some tough times here as well as some good times.  I know that being here has helped me grow through adversities, from knowing whether the program would be here or not or who would be coaching.  My four years has prepared me for the real world.”

Groh added, “I think that it’s great to come in here and learn to deal with adversity, like Mat said.  It’s a great challenge and a time to face things that you’ve never faced before.  Hockey’s been an up-and-down for me personally, but it’s been great for me.”

Allan isn’t satisfied with the results that he’s gotten in college.  “I was pretty successful in junior, but I obviously haven’t really done much offensively here.  I think that I’ve matured a lot as a player.  I’ve had to change my game to be successful at this level.  I’ve become a lot more well-rounded as a player.  Am I happy with where I’m at?  No, not really.”

Where do the seniors see the team in five years?  CJ was quick with his response: “Hopefully with the same coach.”

Alex expressed confidence: “I think that it’ll be great.  We’re in the league, there’s support like I’ve never seen before, and we’ve got a coach who wants to come in here and put a stamp on the program.  We’ve got a good group of recruits coming in.”

CJ added, “I think that Dr. Altenkirch has been great with his support, and now that we have a coach here that believes in what we’re doing with school, I think we’re going to be good.”

Mat finished us out: “Just from what we’ve seen here for the first couple of months.  The way that this program is going this year compared to our first three years, there’s a big difference.  Everything was thrown together last minute.  This year, everything is more organized, and you feel like you’re being treated better.  In theory, this should make us better on-ice.  Then you look at the support that the fans bring, and everything is there for the program to be successful.”

It’s been a rough start to this season, and it’s been a tough time for our seniors, but there is no quit in them.

So #hateweek was fun, yeah?

I still can’t believe that the official Bemidji State University Twitter account re-tweeted the following:

Today's reason to hate Bemidji: beavers are brown. They are not green. If your beaver is green, the chances are that it is sick. #hateweek

— Charger Hockey Journal (@ChargerHockeyJn) October 23, 2013

You should look at the chirp-fest that ensued from there.  Our Twitter timeline has all of it on October 23rd, though you’ll have to scroll for a while.  Some choice ones:

Sick like the beatings we’re going to give you this weekend, @uahhockey

— Bemidji State Univ. (@BemidjiState) October 23, 2013

and

You lost to Northeastern 9-1 and you’re talking to us about comas, @uahhockey?

— Bemidji State Univ. (@BemidjiState) October 23, 2013

Here’s the thing: in all the hate that I — and it should be clear that it was me alone, although I think Michael found it funny when he wasn’t cringing — let loose this week to stoke the rivalry, I never said that we were going to dominate the Beavers on the ice this weekend.  Bill Parcells is famous for saying, “You are what your record says you are.”  Anyone that’s read about the program for five minutes knows that we’ve seen some hard times.

But we’re on the way up.

Maybe we don’t beat Bemidji in either game this weekend.  That’s okay: the series would just be 19-15-3 at UAH.  But y’all, they own us in Minnesota.  It’s bad — 8-22-1 bad.  And it’s not just there, either: the Beavers have gone 23-3-3 in meetings since 2006.  Soak that one in.  As rivalries go, this has been like the hammer and the nail of late.

But.

Michael said it best at the end of his retrospective of the rivalry:

Now it will, to the delight of both the fans in Huntsville and Bemidji. We expect great, loud crowds at Propst Arena on Friday and Saturday, letting Bemidji know that UAH hockey is indeed back, and that the Chargers intend to swing the series record back in their favor, no matter how long it takes.

And they can hate on that all they want.

It’ll take us some time.  We have to build our identity.  But the boys are going to lay that foundation this season.  You’ll see it.  It’s coming.

Got to love the chirping between @uahhockey and @bemidjistate. The rivalry is back on. Will the "Who hates Huntsville" shirts return?

— Brad Elliott Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) October 24, 2013

Our semi-regular reminder: @UAHChargers is the official university account. We're an independent media concern that really hates Bemidji.

— Charger Hockey Journal (@ChargerHockeyJn) October 23, 2013

Right now, the best reason for #hateweek is that they have our number.  Lucky for us, it’s 867-5309

Courtesy UAH Sports Information

Dr. Altenkirch was certainly the leader of the effort to get UAH Hockey back on stable footing, but his right hand man was Dr. E. J. Brophy, our athletic director.  After we talked to Bob, our next visit was with E. J.  If you’ve never met him, you’re going to get a hearty handshake, an anecdote, and a good feeling about the leadership that he provides to the University.  A standout catcher for UAB baseball, Dr. Brophy rose to AAA in the Phillies’ system before returning to his alma mater, getting his Ph.D., and heading advancement with the Blazers.  He next became the AD at West Alabama before being named to replace the late Jim Harris here in Huntsville.

“[Getting accepted] seems real. The part where you had to pinch yourself to see if it was real was in January in Dallas,” Dr. Brophy said.  “Until you get the invitation, you just really don’t know.”

After getting into a new league, Brophy then had to replace Kurt Kleinendorst as head coach, who returned to the professional ranks.  Mike Corbett ended up being the hire.  When asked what Coach Corbett brings to the program, Dr. Brophy said, “The first thing was that he didn’t have to get new towels. Anytime you start talking about the United States Air Force Academy, or any other military academy, you’re talking about phenomenal discipline. Those kids don’t even know the meaning of the word quit.”

Corbett was a great “get” for the Chargers. “He’s well known all over the country, and he was a finalist at Anchorage. Their loss is our gain, as they might have gotten him had they not made a change at the top of their athletic department.”

If you ask Dr. Brophy about his comparison for Coach Corbett, he’ll always say, “Mike to me is the Kirby Smart of college hockey. He was the top assistant in college hockey. Boy, he has brought so much energy here.”

All Charger fans want wins for the team, but Dr. Brophy has off-ice goals for the boys as well. “We want a quality human being who’s a quality student who’s a quality athlete. UAH is about having super people that are super students at our university,” he said.  “Right now they’re doing that — the team GPA has been well above a 3.0, with a 3.2 this past year. Our entire department is above the UAH average as a whole.”  If you’re a UAH student or alunnus, you know that’s not any easy feat.

No college athletic program can survive without help from its boosters. “Anybody that wants to give money to any program at UAH — engineering, hockey, the math department — we’d be happy to have it.”  Dr. Brophy prides himself on being a builder. “This type of program is kinda my cup of tea,” he said of the Blue Line Club.  “I ran the Blazer Club at UAB, and I ran the Tiger Club at West Alabama.

Some fans were a little surprised at the sudden jump to $1,000 for membership in the Blue Line Club.  “We had several levels [at both UAB and UWA], and the $1000 level was always the most popular at those institutions. Here, after evaluating the Blue Line Club and seeing what direction we’re going with a new coach and a new attitude with everything on stable footing, it seemed like it was time. Giving is going very well.”

But if you don’t have $1,000 to give to the program, your contributions are still welcome. “We’d love to have people give whatever they want to give. And when we have Blue Line Club events like the luncheons, we want everyone to come.”  Luncheons will happen every Friday of home weekends during the season, and we’ll have information for you each week as to how you can be a part of it.

“[Corporate sponsorship] is good,” he said.  “Getting into the WCHA opened the gates of heaven.  Any doubts in any recruit’s mind, in any fan’s mind, and in any sponsor’s mind are gone.  We’re playing this fall — it’s real, it’s here.”

There was some — we believe manufactured — controversy this summer about scheduling conflicts between UAH and the Huntsville Havoc, but Dr. Brophy isn’t sure why. “Ever since I got to Huntsville, the VBC and Huntsville Havoc have done nothing but bend over backup to help the Chargers.  We’ve never had a single disagreement — ever.  I don’t know who is trying to manufacture this acrimony, but it’s not there.”

Fans of the whole athletic program know that it can be hard to get to see your Chargers on the court and the ice.  “On the weekends, we seem to get just as good of crowds at basketball if we played at 3:00 as 5:00.”  The University will de-conflict hockey and basketball this season.  “We had talked about even before we got into the WCHA that we’d be playing basketball games on the weekend with the girls at 3 and the guys at 5.  That’ll be different for UNA, of course.”

We asked Dr. Altenkirch about the role of athletics in the University’s ecosystem, so I wanted to ask Dr. Brophy the same thing. “Anytime you have a university, and you just have a university without athletics, it becomes a place to go to school and go home.  That’s very important, but I don’t think that you have a well-rounded university without athletics.  I feel like our athletic programs can, to some extent, be the front porch of our university.  …  I think that our University is important to Huntsville, and I think that we bring a small part of that impact — but an important one.”

Dr. Brophy’s message to the fans?  “Come to our games.  Buy season tickets.  Give us some of your money.”  We can’t say it any better than that.