Just when it seems that the locker room in the Greenberg Ice Pavilion is empty and completely silent, the sound of a garbage can full of jerseys screeching across the floor echoes through the 0room. That's where Phil Krajewski and Dustin Allgeier come into play.
Krajewski and Allgeier don't get to don the Icers jersey or skate around a packed arena playing in front of adoring fans, but instead they fill up bottles of Gatorade and mend any broken skate or stick that comes their way. You see, they are the Div. I ACHA Icers managers.
A typical Icers practice brings Krajewski and Allgeier, both sophomores, to the Ice Pavilion at around 3:15 p.m., close to an hour before the Icers hit the ice. The men get there and open up the locker room for the players, lay out their practice jerseys and socks, fill up water bottles, and get towels ready to give to the players, and that's just the beginning of it. During practice Krajewski and Allgeier sit in the stands and do homework and help out if a helmet, stick or skate breaks. Once practice ends they have to clean up after the team, which includes taking all the water bottles off the bench and getting the sweat-soaked jerseys and towels ready to be cleaned. When it's all said and done, the guys lock up and head home at 6:30 p.m., at least a half-hour after the last player or coach left.
On game days, the guys are supposed to be at the Ice Pavilion three hours before game time, but according to Allgeier, they can get there a bit later.
"We're supposed to be there by six, but we don't need to there till at least 6:30 -- because we're that good," Allgeier said. Both Krajewski and Allgeier got to be the Icers managers through a work-study program at Penn State. They also don't pad their schedules during the hockey season. Krajewski is majoring in mechanical engineering and his course load this semester includes both thermodynamics and machine dynamics. Allgeier on the other hand is currently enrolled in the ROTC program here at Penn State, so a few days a week he has physical training at 5:50 in the morning.
So with only two more weekends of games left for the Icers in the regular season, do the managers feel that they've gotten the respect that they've earned, doing all the dirty work for the No. 2 team in the ACHA?
"I definitely think that they appreciate what we do," Allgeier said.
Icers assistant coach Mike McNeill and all of the other coaches are extremely grateful when it comes to the managers.
"They take a lot of pressure off the coaching staff," McNeill said. "Everything you can think of they handle, it really makes a big difference."
McNeill, who is filling in for head coach Joe Battista at practice this week while he recovers from flu-like symptoms, went on to say that in the past the coaches had to worry about things that the current managers take care of. He said that now the coaches can concentrate solely on the task at hand.
The players also realize what these guys do for them and treat them like part of the team.
"Just the little things that people don't recognize, we do, and we appreciate it," senior captain Josh Mandel said.
So just when it seems that the Icers have left the building this weekend after their two games against Delaware, remember that two of the most important members of the team are still inside getting ready for next week.
