Perfect balance
Icer Eizenman keeps grades, defenders in check

By JOSHUA RHETT MILLER
Collegian Staff Writer

Like it or not, athletes are stereotyped. Whether it's the football player taking remedial math or the basketball guard with more sneakers than Nike, blanketing beliefs abound in sports.

And hockey is no different. In fact, hockey may have it the worst.

The inescapable ice hockey stereotype has been around ever since guys started fooling around with a puck on a frozen pond. You've heard it before, the goon with as many teeth as fingers and as many brain cells as assists.

It just isn't fair.

But sophomore Alon Eizenman isn't your average hockey goon.

In fact, the Toronto native is nothing of the sort.

"Since my dad is a professor at the University of Toronto, school mattered so much and everything else was secondary," Eizenman said. "My parents said I could only play sports if my work was done and my grades were high."

The flashy forward who leads the No. 2 Icers (21-3-3) with 52 points has left his parents no choice but to let him keep shaking off defenders. Not only has Eizenman scored a team second-best 20 goals this season, he's managed to keep his grade point average in business administration at a hefty 3.7 and maintain his membership with the Schreyer Honors Program.

"He knows the game can't consume his whole life," said Erez Eizenman, Alon's brother. "There's much more out there for him."

About five years after his parents moved to Toronto from Israel, Alon picked up a hockey stick and started to play Canada's national pastime. Ever since he hasn't looked back.

"It's more than a hobby or game now," he said. "It's part of my life. Your teammates become your family and the sport becomes such a big part of your life."

Eizenman said he loves all sports and has tried virtually everything, but he thinks part of the reason he stuck with hockey was because of its obvious dominance over other sports in Canada.

"Hockey in Toronto is the equivalent of football in Pennsylvania," he said. "You see people playing hockey in Toronto all over the place. In every neighborhood you can see 10 or 15 pickup games. It's truly part of the culture."

After playing for the 1997 Israeli National Team and being named Most Valuable Player, Eizenman decided to come to Penn State because he liked the genuine mix of academics and athletics.

Coach Joe Battista was very glad to get such a blue-chip hockey player.

"Alon has tremendous skills and he sees the ice so well," Battista said. "He's an exceptional athlete and the most skilled player on our team."

Although Eizenman is known for his prowess of getting the puck into the net, teammates praise his other abilities as well.

"He just knows the game so well," senior forward Ed Bursich said. "He's very skilled as well and knows how to find and utilize space."

But what the 6-foot, 165-pound Eizenman is known for is something coaches cannot teach -- speed.

"Seeing him on the ice make his quick burst of speed to split defenders is so fun to watch," Bursich said. "It's an awesome thing to see."

His brother Erez has seen the same thing his entire life -- the back of Alon's jersey skating by.

"He's not so big and strong," Erez said. "But he's just so fast."

Eizenman is usually one of the quickest players on the ice at any given time, if not the quickest. But he doesn't see that as his biggest asset at the rink.

"I've always played the game with my head first and then with my body," he said. "A lot of guys do that the other way around. My single greatest skill is the way I see the ice. I do have good speed and good hands, but my ultimate advantage is my quick mind."

Erez said he can remember going out to the neighborhood rink with Alon and their other brother Oren to shoot around for hours at a time in the frigid winters of Ontario.

"That stuff was great," Erez said. "Even then, Alon always saw the ice better than anyone else. He was always on another level."

One area where Eizenman was never on the same level as everyone else was in the weight room -- because he was never there. The slim, sinewy frame of Eizenman never touched a barbell or did a military press until he came to Penn State.

"Hockey is a very physical game, but I'm not a physical player," he said. "I don't fit the stereotypical hockey player. In fact, I see myself as the antithesis of the stereotype."

Eizenman rarely, if ever, hits an opponent at mid ice. But it's not because he can't or doesn't want to, it's because he eludes almost everyone.

"He makes moves you can't teach people," Battista said. "He's just so creative out there."

It is his creativity that Eizenman hopes to use to gain fame and fortune. He wants to win an ESPY by showing off his "special move" to the hockey world.

"I want to skate down the ice and cup the puck with my stick and lift it onto my shoulder, and then spin and throw the puck like a lacrosse shot over my shoulder into the net," he said. "I haven't tried it in a game, but I want to. I have tried in practice though, and a couple goalies didn't even know it was coming and it got past them several times."

Besides the quartz award given by the Bristol-based ESPN network, Eizenman said he has another lofty accomplishment in mind. He would like to become the all-time leading scorer by the time he graduates Penn State.

Eizenman trails Lynn Sipe's all-time record of 321 by 205 points. So for Eizenman to eclipse the all-time record he would have to pick up his already torrid pace of 58 points a season.

Out of reach?

No way says Eizenman.

"I want to do it," he said. "There's nothing I won't do to make that possibility come true."

Eizenman said he wishes to play in the NHL one day, but realizes that may not be possible. He said he'll continue playing hockey forever and won't feel that he let anyone down if his abilities aren't suited for the next level.

"Realistically, I'd like to play somewhere in the NHL, but I'm not sure I'm good enough," he said. "That's why I stick to my studies."

Your average hockey goon?

No way.