Describing the determined play of a teammate, Lisa Ruskin nearly jumps out of her chair. You quickly get a hint of the tenacity behind her love for the sport and team, the Park City Predators, a local women’s recreational hockey team.
The Predators are a melting pot of female athletes some former college stars in their 20s, some four decades older who have come together to form a common bond in their admiration for hockey.
Ruskin, who turns 59 Sunday, remembers her introduction to the sport with ease. Nearly 33 years ago, when she was a surgical intern at the University of Vermont, a medical student asked if she had ever played hockey. She hadn’t given it a thought, but went out and bought every piece of equipment and played in an intramural game.
A former lacrosse player, Ruskin had no clue that question would lead her to devote much of her life to hockey.
“Totally addicted,” she said. “Here I am.”
The Park City resident was one of the founders of the team in the spring of 2006, after the construction of the Park City Ice Arena. And since then, she said, every season has been “a blessing” for women in Summit County and Northern Utah who just want to play hockey.
Nancy Wastcoat Garbett, 68, has lived in Park City for 36 years and has been a Predator since the team’s inception five years ago. She said she remembers the first game the Predators ever played.
“Out of 25 people on the bench, three had played the game before,” she said.
“And we lost 5-2,” Ruskin added, shaking her head.
Since then, the Predators have gone through many changes in the roster, which can be expected with a small-town recreational squad. But as Ruskin said, there are no limitations as to who can play. She said the lone prerequisite is that potential players have an ability to skate.
“We’re completely addicted to the sport,” she said. “But we’re not restrictive. We’re trying to grow the sport and we’re trying to get any women with any kind of skill level to come and join us.
“Our team’s mission statement was to provide fun, organized recreational hockey for women in the Park City area. But, of course we’d like to be successful.”
The Predators host teams from around Northern Utah and travel to places like Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo. They’ve also traveled to out-of-state tournaments over the years, and, last season, secured their first-ever tournament victory in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
“For most of us on the team now, we win every time we’re on the ice,” Garbett said. “Because we can be on the ice as a team, and I think the team is becoming more and more cohesive.”
Cohesiveness is a plus, according to Mark Jacobson, who has been the Predators’ head coach for the last four seasons. A full-time volunteer, Jacobson said he welcomes the challenge of meshing talent and desire of women of different ages and backgrounds.
“There’s such diversity,” he said. “I just want everyone to have fun. That’s the whole goal of hockey is to have fun. My goal is to improve them individually a little bit. Just some minor changes have made huge differences to their game.
“It’s pretty amazing to sit and watch them.”
Amazing is the adjective Ruskin uses to describe teammate Sarah Tueting, who was the starting goalie for the 1998 USA women’s hockey team that won gold in the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
She almost flew out of her chair when describing a play by Tueting, who now plays defense for the Predators.
“Someone skated by her, so she flopped on her back, stuck her stick out and swatted the puck away,” she said. “It was miraculous.”
According to Ruskin, Tueting is pregnant with twins and is taking a short sabbatical from the Predators.
“She has agreed to come back after January,” she said, laughing. “It’s totally awesome to see the skill level that she has on a minute-to-minute basis. She was the greatest female goalie in the world.”
The Predators’ new season is already under way. They have dropped the last two games, with each loss coming by one goal.
“If you have to lose a game, losing by one goal is pretty cool,” Ruskin said.
The team holds open practices a few times every season, hoping to reel in a few more potential players. In the last open practice on Nov. 19, Garbett said an 8-year-old showed up in full gear.
“It’s now six decades’ difference,” she said.
Both team members said that without the help of Jacobson and coaches Eric Smith, Josh and Seth Angevine and former coaches Bob Devaney and Jim Miles, the Predators wouldn’t have survived as a team.
“They try really hard, and sometimes they get frustrated and sometimes they don’t,” Jacobson said. “And like anything, you can’t win everything.”
Park City will get back on the ice when the Goal Digger Tournament comes back to the Park City Ice Arena on Dec. 9-11. Women’s teams from all over the state are expected to participate, along with some teams from Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Arizona. Ruskin said a puck will be in play from 6 a.m. to midnight Saturday of the tournament.
But the fiery Ruskin couldn’t help but shake her head once again when it came to recalling Saturday’s 1-0 loss.
“Kind of a soft goal,” she said, smiling.