USA Hockey Adult Hockey

Ecolab has found the winning formula.

In seven years of playing in the Labatt Blue/USA Hockey Pond Hockey Championships, the Madison, Wis.-based team has advanced to the title game in its division on three occasions.

“We’ve got a system down,” team member Nathaniel Boies said. “Playing for seven years, you get used to knowing how you can win. We have one guy go up and one guy kind of floats and two guys stay back, one guy is always in net. The system just works for us. It’s hard for other teams to score on us.”

That was certainly the case this year when Ecolab surrendered just 27 goals in five victories to propel them to the Silver 21+ Division championship game. However, in the title contest, Ecolab faced a tough Steny’s Bar and fell 16-7. Ecolab finished 5-1 in the tournament and placed runner-up for the second time.

Ecolab prides itself on its defense. The players make sure their opponents can’t get around them to take shots. It’s a system that Boies and his teammates tweak a little every year when they get on the pond.

“You learn new things every year,” said Boies, who has played for seven years. “Like my buddy [Jordan] Lemanski was saying, every year we’re getting slower and slower, we’re getting out of shape.”

The guys from Ecolab, which changes names every year in conjunction with its sponsor, won the Silver 21+ title in 2014 as Gould Electric 1.

Hanging out with the guy is important, but so is winning. That winning mindset is infectious when a team has only dropped one game in the last two years.

“Oh yeah, we’re all pretty competitive,” said Lemanski, who has also just wrapped up his seventh year at the Pond Hockey Championships. “I wouldn’t have fun if we came up and lost. I wouldn’t keep coming back if we lost. It’s always about having fun for sure, but I’m not having so much fun if we’re not winning.”

Ecolab fields another team every year in a 30+ division. The younger Ecolab guys got involved since they have brothers on their sister team, which is comprised of players who have competed in the Pond Hockey Championships for nine seasons.

“We’ve always pretty much done things with them,” Lemanski said. “When we got of age, we started coming up. A few guys played college hockey, and we’ve played hockey our whole lives together pretty much.”

Friends since they were 3 years old, the guys on Ecolab compete in a Sunday night adult league in Madison. They make it a point to make the 3 ½-hour drive north to Eagle River, Wis., every year for the Pond Hockey Championships.

“It’s a blast,” Lemanski said. “Just look around, it’s so sweet.”

The guys range in age from 25 to 28 and enjoy their time on and off the ice when they’re in Eagle River. It’s important for them to keep a strong bond with one another.

“Just being with these guys,” said Boies about the best part of the pond hockey weekend. “I’ve played with them all my life, and just being on the ice with them is an awesome experience.”

Since it has had a lot of success in the Silver 21+ Division, Ecolab has high aspirations for its team in the near future.

“We eventually want to go up to the Gold, the top division, and see if we can win that,” Boies said. “I think just to win the whole thing, that’s why we come up.”

When the guys get a little older, will they then move up to a 30+ division like their brothers?

“We’ll see if we can even skate at that point,” said Lemanski laughing.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.