Though casual fans could mistake them on the ice for seasoned NHL players, every member of the Spokane Chiefs is in fact between the ages of 16 and 21— the “major junior” level of hockey. Only about 8% of NHL players are 21 or younger, and none are below age 18.
Teetering right on the edge of the professional level, Chiefs players face an intensive season of training, home games, and travel that could be a full-time job in itself, yet their league and team ensure that education and prospects outside hockey are a part of every season.
“Our high school players attend schools in their hometowns remotely,” said Chiefs Director of Sponsorships Brian Cobb. “But college-age players are required to take at least English 101 from Spokane Community College.”
Their English instructor, Spokane Colleges’ Larry Brunt, brings class to the Spokane Arena two days per week.
“I started my partnership with the Chiefs as a team photographer about 10 years ago,” said Brunt. “Three years ago, they were looking for an English instructor. And since I already knew the guys as the team photographer, they thought that maybe I'd be a good fit for that.”
“Larry's been great for us,” said Sam Oremba, a 21-year-old left wing for the Chiefs. “If you need anything, it's a little message to him, or come into the rink and he'll be there. But we also have an education advisor behind the scenes that helps us out and makes sure that our grades are up to date and that we're staying up to par.”
On the surface, Brunt’s Chiefs students live very different lives than their counterparts in Spokane Colleges’ on-campus English classes: They practice, play, travel, and study together, developing deep bonds and an inside culture among them. But according to Brunt, there are more similarities than differences.
“They come in like any college freshman where they are,” said Brunt. “They’re feeling a little intimidated, a little out of their league. They might not think that they're prepared to succeed, and it's a matter of showing them that they are capable and that they have those skills, and that it's a matter of developing them—and this is one thing that's nice about the players, you can make that comparison to hockey skills. It's just practice, right?”
Most Chiefs players will pursue hockey professionally as far as they can, but many will end up working in other fields, either by choice or out of necessity when their hockey careers end.
“For my career goal, I want to get into criminology and follow my dad's footsteps—he's been a police officer for countless years now,” said Logan Wormald, a 20-year-old Chiefs left wing from Langley, BC. “Down the road, college will pay off.”
Balancing intensive training and gameday schedules with travel and schoolwork isn’t easy, and Wormald and Oremba feel a connection on this level with their counterparts in on-campus classes.
“We're sometimes not home until three in the morning and the next morning you got to be at the rink to do school,” said Oremba. “It's not always easy, but it's got to be done. And I think down the road, in five to 10 years, it's going to help us out.”
“There's a stereotype of athletes not being scholars, and that you're good at one or the other, but you're not good at both” said Brunt. “Part of my challenge is to show them that you can be good at both, and then you probably are good at both, and that these guys are are more capable than they're aware of. I think that’s similar to all students, whether coming back to school, if you've been out for a while, or maybe you're a Running Start student, and you think: Am I going to fit in with these older people who have some experience that I don't? It's all just people learning to practice.”