Fan support key to Stars’ success
STARS from page 7
first-year team.”
Suderman said Lincoln residents
are almost too supportive to be real
hockey fans.
“When we were losing 4-nothing
against Omaha with nine minutes left
last week (Dec. 31), the fans were
cheering at every hit and at every shot,
like we were winning,” he said. “If we
were in any other city in the. league,
the fans would’ve been booing us off
the ice.
“It’s kind of nice to not be strug
gling and come into your own bam
with the fans behind you.”
Ten hours before the fans will pack
the Ice Box for the Stars’ Jan. 3 game
against the Dubuque (Iowa) Fighting
Saints, three players slowly skate onto
the ice.
Hie three turn into six. Then 12.
Then 18.’*
Finally,' all 23 players are on the
ice. Although it is only 9 a.m., the
whole team must show up for the pre
game skate.
Exercise is light — a few laps
around the arena, a few shots on the
goaltenders arid some stretching. It
gives Johnson a chance to remind his
players of a few important points.
‘Tonight, I want all of you to give
me 60 minutes of good hockey,”
Johnson says to his team. What the
players do before the game, he. says
later, is their business.
Louis Mass, the Stars’ team cap
tain and a starting defenseman, said the
hours before face-off are the same ev
ery game. He said he usually goes
home, takes a nap and has a good meal
before he is supposed to show up in
the locker room.
“It’s like That every game,” he said.
“If it’s not games, it’s practice. If it’s
not practice, it’s work.
“You can’t have much of a social
life in this league.”
Indeed, the USHL holds strict
guidelines over its participants. All
players must be between 16 and 19
years old before the Aug. 31 of the
season during which they will be play
ing, and must either hold a part-time
job or be enrolled in a secondary or
post-secondary school.
Originally formed as the Midwest
Junior Hockey League in 1972, the
USHL merged with another Junior A
hockey league in 1979. As one of three
other Junior A leagues in North
America, the goal of the USHL is to
provide players and coaches an inten
sive training environment and help the
players to succeed to collegiate—and
even professional — levels.
The USHL season lasts from Sep
tember to the Clark Cup Playoffs in
April and March. If a USHL team is
one of the three best in die league, it
joins teams from two other Junior A
leagues at the beginning of May in
competition for the national title.
If the Stars are not good enough to
make either contest, their season will
end after 54 games. The players must
then return home and try again next
year, if they are eligible.
But Mass, a 20-year-old Star, will
not be eligible for next season, so this
will be the last year he will live like a
junior league player.
For now, home for Mass is a rented
room in a Lincoln family’s house. Like
most players, he must pay roughly
$150 a month for his temporary stay
with the family. The Stars organiza
tion pays for any other costs — travel,
food, equipment and transportation
from their hometowns to Lincoln.
None of the Lincoln Stars are from
Nebraska—and none of them are paid
for their time on the team.
The team’s roster is packed with
home-states from all over the conti
nent: Rhode Island, Indiana, New Jer
sey, Alaska, Minnesota and more.
Three players — Suderman, Mazurak
and forward Derek Reynolds — are
from Saskatchewan, Canada.
The fact that so many different
backgrounds and personalities have
been brought together to form a single
team makes the Stars’ freshman-year
achievements even more unusual.
Mass attributed the Stars’ success
to a combination of good team chem
istry and exceptional planning on the
part of the administrative staff.
“I think Coach (Johnson) has done
a great job gathering the guys he has,”
Mass said. ‘Together, this team prob
ably has further experience than most
of die other teams in this league.”
Before becoming die head coach
and general manager of the Lincoln
Stars, Johnson was part of every level
of.the game.
From playing NCAA D-l hockey
with die University of North Dakota
Fighting Sioux and professional
hockey with the Vancouver Canucks
of the National Hockey League to
coaching die Fargo-Moorhead (N.D.)
Bears of the USHL, Johnson has made
hockey an integral part of his life.
His time with the Lincoln Stars is
becoming one of his best experiences
with the game, he said. ~ :
After five years of coaching in
North Dakota, including his year with
the Bears, Johnson said he wanted to
help start a new team.
“I knew there was a team coming
(to Lincoln) at die end of last year,”
he said. “I made it known I wanted to
come here and try to get things
started,”
League officials came to Johnson
near the end of last season and offered
him the job. Johnson’s accomplish
ments with the Fargo-Moorhead ex
pansion team, which included a third
place finish and a 28-17-1 record,
made him a shoo-in for the position.
Johnson said he had not been dis
appointed by the team yet.
“The overall organization here is
much more prepared than most of the
places I’ve been,” Johnson said. “They
know how to pull die players together
and get the fans into die stands.”
But Johnson’s primary concern
continues to be the players.
“We’ve got a lot of good kids on
this team,” he said. “We want to give
them a chance to play and do what they
want to do, and hopefully we can give
them a hand in continuing with the
game before they leave.”
Mass is one player who is ready to
leave.
Originally from Anchorage,
Alaska, Mass has played in die USHL
for two seasons, leaving the Roches
ter (Minn.) Mustangs to play for the
Stars.
“I asked to come here and play,”
Mass said. “Steve (Johnson) is a good
coach, and I felt like I needed a change
of pace.”
Now, instead of playing for his high
school or for a Frontier League team
in Alaska, Mass balances his position
as captain of his new team and his job
at a local construction company.
Like all USHL players, though,
Mass’ way of life is only temporary.
Because he turned 20 in October, his
Stars career will end with the season.
But Mass is not worried.
“Of course, my goal is to play pro
hockey, but it takes a lot of hard work
to get to that level,” Mass said. “The
short term idea now is to get to col
lege, play for a D-l (NCAA Division
One) team somewhere and see what
1 ' -
happens.”
However, the possibility that pro
hockey is not in Mass’ future nags at
a comer of his mind, much as it does
for most of the other players.
“I’ve been playing hockey since I
was 3,” Mass said. “I really can’t
imagine doing anything else.”
Neither can Derek Reynolds.
The 20-year-old starting forward
does not have the worries Mass has,
though. Reynolds has already commit
ted to play for the University of Ne
braska at Omaha when its hockey team
begins its inaugural season later this
year.
Reynolds spent the first half of this
season juggling 15 credit hours at
UNO and playing for the Stars. As a
transfer student from Northern Michi
gan University, he must obey NCAA
guidelines and sit out a year before
even practicing, bm, he said, “at least
I get to spend that time with a good
team.”
Hailing from North Battleford,
Saskatchewan, Reynolds has played in
both Canadian leagues and on an
NCAA team. His move to the Stars
marks his first, and last, stint in the
USHL. Like Mass, age requirements
would nudge Reynolds out of the ”
Stars’ spotlight regardless of his com
mitment to the Mavericks.
But, he said, being a part of the
Stars’ first season makes him proud.
“How can you not be proud?” he
said. “We’ve got great fans and a good
record. Coach Johnson’s got a good
mix of guys here.”
Reynolds said he thought the
team’s exceptional record was a bit
unusual for an expansion team, but
welcome nonetheless.
“You can give credit to any part of
the team,” the USHL All-Star selec
tion said. “Maybe it’s steady
goaltending or good offensive or what
ever, but the group here wins one way
or another.” ’
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