A matter of resilience: High school hockey teams deal with late practice times as ice time is hard to find

Hockey practice begins at 10:15 p.m.

and wraps near midnight.

World Arena to the north end of Colorado Springs tacks on an additional half-hour drive.

Finally, lights out around 1:30 a.m.

The alarm of Libertys Nathan McIlhany then rings at 6:30 a.m.

Time to do it all again.

Your body gets deprived, McIlhany said.

It's hard to get in a routine.

"Not only do we have to perform on the ice, but we have to perform in the classroom and we're honestly all trying to stay awake in class.

It not only hurts our grades but it just hurts our mentality and perspective on the way we treat ourselves." With finite ice time available, schools must take what they can get.

But lately, with more and more teams and leagues vying for that time, its the high schools that have paid the price with increasingly troublesome practice times.

The Colorado High School Activities Association recently approved voluntary Sunday practices to aid the situation.

Lewis-Palmer coach Scott Bradley and Liberty coach Kent McIlhany, Nathans father, arent keen on Sunday practice, even on a voluntary basis.

They believe that day should be set aside for rest, schoolwork and church.

For both, the remedy would be to build another facility to meet the demand.

Locally, there are seven sheets of ice available across five venues: Monument Ice Rinks, the Air Force Academy (which is currently limiting access to the base, altering teams practice and game schedules), Sertich Ice Center, the World Arena and, when available, Colorado Colleges new Ed Robson Arena.

Both the World Arena and Monument Ice Rinks have two sheets of ice.

Those rinks serve as venues for a growing number of participants, including youth leagues, high school teams, college teams at the varsity and club levels, mens adult leagues, and more recently, womens adult leagues.

Kent McIlhany believes the situation necessitates the construction of a new ice rink.

Bradley is in full agreement, believing a multipurpose sports complex is an excellent way to go.

However, there is currently no known public money being set aside to construct a new venue.

There is so much need that we could build a complex, doesnt have to be unique to hockey, but it could be a sports-training complex in the northern Colorado Springs area and that would significantly help the ice shortage, Bradley said.

Growing up in the 90s playing for the Pikes Peak Tigers at the time, hockey was not nearly as popular as baseball, football, basketball, soccer.

It was maybe fifth on the list as far as popularity from kids growing up but as soon as the Avs moved here in the late 90s, that I think was the most significant catalyst.

I think it comes down to what is the priority? ...

You dont want to have to pick and choose on which age group has the priority, but youre in a sense forced to without more facilities to allow for all of those groups to play and to have that same opportunity.

For Bradley, bizarre practice times for high school teams are the norm.

He recalls early morning practices during his youth.

High school hockey has always had strange times, either the early mornings or the late nights, said the Lewis-Palmer coach, who noted the challenges of managing time and remaining eligible.

To show up ready for practice, be on time when you start at 5:30 in the morning or be on time and not half-asleep when you start at 9:30 at night.

So thats a great adversity challenge for our athletes thats kind of always been that way.

The resilience that comes with play and managing lifes other priorities is part of what makes hockey players, hockey players, even at the high school level.

We manage and its all part of the game so its a lot of fun, Cheyenne Mountain senior defenseman Sam Bonnet said.

We definitely take pride in (time management).

Any ice time we get, we take because it doesnt come around often.

Its worth noting that not every local team currently holds its practices as late and far from home as Liberty.

For the Red-Tailed Hawks, practices are much earlier than in years past.

Cheyenne Mountain coach Erik Austin said his team has an agreement with the Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association, securing ice time in the late afternoon.

This came about after the organization eliminated its Tier 1 program.

As a result, Cheyenne Mountain often practices around 4:15 p.m.

at Sertich Ice Center.

For the first time in Bonnett's high school career, the Red-Tailed Hawks senior goes to bed at a decent hour.

Bonnett, the Hawks' captain, said he's noticed he and his teammates are more awake for morning classes.

"It is very nice.

So two years ago we had practices sometimes starting at 10:15 p.m.

so we would not get up until 12 sometimes.

It was a struggle because we still go to school and we still have our lives to live," Bonnett said on a Wednesday in early February.

"I went to bed at 9 p.m.

last night.

Which is crazy." Some of the challenges teams face are internal.

Libertys Kent McIlhany said he used to be able to schedule hockey practices directly as a coach, now Academy District 20 handles scheduling, creating more steps in the process.

Krystal Story, the assistant director for communication for Academy District 20, outlined the process that seeks to provide a fair schedule for the four district teams at Liberty, Pine Creek, Air Academy and Rampart.

Right as hockey season ends our district athletics department reaches out to all of the ice arenas that we work with and we say, Alright were ready, lets talk about (2025-2026)', she said.

We make that initial conversation as soon as hockey season is over.

Normally, what weve been told, is often times they say, Great weve got you down but were not ready to get into specifics yet because theyve got other sports that theyve been managing.

Once available ice times across the rinks are gathered, Story said the district sits down with the athletic directors of the four schools to take turns allocating the available ice time.

This past season, when all was said and done, Kent said the Lancers had to choose between practices at 5 a.m.

or 10:15 p.m.

for several practices.

Kent opted for the latter.

Theyre trying to get us to practice at five in the morning at Air Force Academy, which I wont do, he said.

It just does not work with freshman high school kids.

Moms and dads dont want to wake up that early in the morning and get them out there, especially in the snow and -30 temperatures.

Even after the practice schedule is somewhat finalized, scheduling remains fluid.

Kent said that if a sheet of ice at a better time becomes available, he and the district will attempt to secure an earlier practice.

Austin keeps his options open as well, maintaining a relationship with World Arena for a 9 p.m.

practice slot if his current arrangement with CSAHA ends.

Even though there are no simple solutions to practice time in high school hockey, the teams manage and even thrive in the challenging environment.

While the Lancers didnt make the postseason, they finished with a 14-5 record.

Cheyenne Mountain secured a first-round bye and will travel to 4A runner-up Summit next week.

In 5A, Lewis-Palmer travels to Regis Jesuit on Friday for the first round of the playoffs..

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