Team sets sights on 2006 Gay Games
Chuck Jacobson is helping his team prepare for a playoff game Thursday, but the founder of the only gay hockey team in the area is also looking down the road to the 2006 Gay Games.
“I can’t wait to showcase the [team] to the rest of the worldwide gay community,” said Jacobson, president of the Chicago Gay Hockey Association, which started the team. “That’s one of the most exciting aspects of the Gay Games coming to Chicago, actually getting to see and go against the worldwide hockey talent.”
Inspired by a gay hockey league in New York, Jacobson, 29, a delivery truck driver, began two years ago to recruit gay men looking for competition and camaraderie. He found 15 players, some of whom played on other teams, some who just liked hockey. Most are gay; two players are straight; and one is a lesbian.
“I enjoy playing with a similar peer group,” said team member Andy Rogers, 41, a graphic designer from Chicago. “I’m proud to be part of a group that makes it easier for others to understand that gay or straight, we’re all still competitive and can compete equally.”
The team–named Spin after its sponsor, a Lakeview bar–has done moderately well in the nine-team coed league. After an 0-2 start, its 8-8 record was good enough for fifth place and a spot in the playoffs.
“They’re a very good team, with a lot of talent,” said Chad Solarz, 30, captain of the Drunk Penguins, which split two games with the Spin during the season. “A hockey player is a hockey player; it doesn’t matter that they’re a gay team.”
After the CGHA put together the team, members joined a league at the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills. They switched to the Rolling Meadows Park District’s senior men’s hockey league this season for stronger competition and because it was an easier commute from Chicago, members said.
The CGHA players, who include a real estate agent, a waiter, a lawyer and a neurologist, range in age from 18 to 53. Most live in Chicago, though one player drives in from Kenosha.
Team members pay $300 each for the season, which runs from October through April. It’s a no-contact league; any hits carry a minimum 2-minute penalty. And despite its link with men, the league allows women. Ten play on various teams.
On Thursday, the Spin will play the Drillers at the West Meadows Ice Arena in a quarterfinal playoff game that starts about 10:45 p.m.
Craig Welker, senior hockey director for the Rolling Meadows Park District, said he didn’t know the Spin was a gay team when it registered, but it wouldn’t have mattered.
“It makes no difference what they or any player on any team does outside of the rink. That’s none of my business,” Welker said.
Jacobson said the handful of derogatory comments thrown at players over the last two years have been “typical hockey trash-talking.”
“Not personal attacks,” he said.
Offensive comments about a player’s sexual orientation, race or religion are not tolerated, said Scott Zaban, 28, a referee in the Rolling Meadows league. They will get players ejected from the game.
“The perception in sports is that it’s not OK to be out in the locker room,” said Spin player Ryan Ruskin, 35, president of a box manufacturing company. “We try to provide a supportive environment where you can play hockey and be yourself; that’s most important.”
Being gay is not a prerequisite. Geoff Boehme, 30, a hotel employee in Chicago, joined after spotting a flier for the team last year at his gym.
“What was most important to me was that the team was affordable, could help me with transportation and it wanted to have a good time,” said Boehme, who does not have a car.
“When I met the guys, they were really cool. It’s not strange for me at all. We all have the same goal: to play hockey and have fun.”
The CGHA’s origins go back to an online chat Jacobson had about two years ago with Jeff Kagan, director of New York City’s Gay Hockey Association. Jacobson met Kagan in July 2002 at New York’s annual Chelsea Challenge, a gay hockey tournament.
Jacobson returned to Chicago and passed out fliers at the 2002 Gay Pride Parade.
Besides the team, Jacobson’s organization has a Web site–www.chicagogayhockey.org–and is trying to start a team for new players. He hopes to host a tournament for gay teams from the U.S. and Canada at several suburban rinks.
“Hockey is an intimidating sport,” Jacobson said. “But that doesn’t mean a gay team can’t play and win.”