“The roller hockey club gives students that want to play competitive hockey another option to do so here at Grand Valley,” said GVSUhead coach Tim Mastbergen. “The roller team itself was started to be a more affordable alternative to playing ice hockey and because of the structure of our game schedule, can also be less time consuming since we aren’t playing every weekend.”

The team is made up of 92 GVSU students who are looking to have fun while competing with friends. As a member of the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association, they compete as Division I team throughout the Midwest, all vying for that spot to compete at nationals.

Although its title as a club sport may sound unofficial, the members on the team are generally just as active and remain just as competitive as teams at the varsity level.

“The roller hockey season is pretty much all year long,” said senior defenseman David Oswald. “We hold tryouts in mid-September while open skate starts and then if we make it to nationals we won’t be done until April. We put in just as much time as a varsity sport.”

Roller hockey’s rules and regulations have many differences from its on-ice counterpart. Teams play 4-on-4 with no icing or offside penalties.

“In some ways, roller hockey is a lot like basketball,” Oswald said. “Instead of ice hockey pace, which is go, go, go, we have a mentality to play a stop and go game, which allows for us to set up and execute plays.”

The team gets together twice a week to practice for two hours. The practices consist of running drills and drawing up plays with a rewarded bonus scrimmage at the end of practices.

Holding official cuts during try-outs and traveling to away games, the Lakers are among the more successful club sports. With a 4-4 start to the 2011 season with a lull in competition until after the New Year, they are looking to regroup and finish the season strong.

“Our season has gone quite better than expected,” said club president Nick Dow, a senior captain. “Last year we lost a quite a bit of leadership on our team, and we have proven to come out and put up a good fight this year against competition.”

With one goal: to make it to nationals, the Lakers will do what they do best; relax and play hockey.

“It’s the atmosphere that everyone sticks around for,” Dow said. “I would come tell everyone to come skate with us and see how you feel. Once you get to know us we are just all about having fun and relaxing while we play hockey. Though, to make nationals we need to make a presence upsetting teams and outdoing standards.”

[email protected]