Learning, Laughing, Improving, Chirping

At first, Maddie Scheutzow was kidding about joining this summer’s Adult Learn to Play class attended by some 40 adults every Monday night for 10 weeks at Kraken Community Iceplex. Well, sort of kidding, since the Kraken office and culture specialist loves her job and takes it seriously.

“We have our employee goals,” said Scheutzow earlier this month. “One of the categories is hockey acumen. This past year, I decided to make hockey acumen one of my goals, and a couple of my colleagues encouraged me to take the Learn to Play class.”

Scheutzow told Kraken colleague Princess Lawrence, “I’m doing this; you should do it with me.” Challenge and invitation accepted.

“For me, I was already a figure skater back in D.C. [childhood days],” said Lawrence, manager of investor relations and special projects. “Maddie led the charge; call me a follower. But I said OK. Then we got closer to summer, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, we’re really doing this.’ ”

You might choose to call Lawrence a follower, but in observing three different sessions this summer, it was clear she topped all participants in getting to know the most Learn to Play teammates.

“The good thing about having Princess involved in anything, she will meet anyone and everyone,’ said De’Aira Anderson, senior media relations manager, who was easily coaxed into joining her Kraken colleagues on the ice and in the hunt for proper equipment, along with putting the gear on in the right way. “In the first few weeks, Princess knew so many folks’ names, and they seemed like long-time friends.”

Anderson was happy to show up on those 10 Monday summer nights even if she does work all sorts of extra and odd hours during the NHL regular season: “I've been talking about doing Learn to Play for as long as I've been working here, which is five years. When Princess and Maddie told me they were doing it, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the perfect opportunity because my friends will be doing it ... being with Princess and Maddie has been so fun, we’re always out there giggling and chirping each other on the ice [the colleague we call ‘Dee’ is solid on faceoffs, Princess brings the skating/edgework prowess and Maddie is tops on grit and can-do effort].”

Making Progress: From Falling Down to Leveling Up

Scheutzow and Lawrence were laughing after an early session about how much protection the equipment offers when you fall. Lawrence said figure skaters don’t have “a lot of padding” when they fall, remarking she was happily surprised the first time she tumbled to the ice in the hockey sessions.

“It's a lot easier to fall when you're an eight-year-old,” said a smiling Martin Hlinka, director of the Kraken Youth Hockey Association and lead instructor for the Adult Learn to Play classes. “Being a little hesitant to fall as an adult is normal. We try to get over it, telling our class in Week 1, ‘Let's lie down. Let's fall. Let's get up.’ We are getting everyone on their knees and learning how to place our hands to get back up.”

Sampling a session each from the early weeks to the mid-term to the final nights, the skill level of all skaters was markedly improved from June to August. Skating is the key component of improving, and some participants (including Scheutzow, Lawrence and Anderson) augment their progress by skating at the Iceplex during public skating and stick-and-puck sessions at times over the rest of the week.

“If you look at session one to session 10, every Learn to Play class is a little different,” said Hlinka. “But from the first week to the last week, you can tell people are not only showing up here, but do a little more each week, right? They get better quicker. It's crazy and fun to watch. You can tell at the end of the 10 weeks that there is excitement at the progress they’ve made.”

Sign-Ups Open Now for Fall Sessions

That excitement among Learn to Play students leads participants to keep playing. Many choose a lower-level recreational game, while others decide to repeat the course. Since opening Kraken Community Iceplex in 2021, the Kraken Hockey League has run four sessions each year of Adult Learn to Play with 80 participants each. At the conclusion of each session, players who wish to continue are grouped into teams to join league play in Division 10, which is effectively a newbie level. As it stands, the Kraken Hockey League is the fastest-growing adult association in the state.

Registration for Fall 2025 sessions of Adult Learn to Play is now open, and you can sign up yourself, as well as any willing and curious friends, at krakencommunityiceplex.com. The Fall/Winter period of the Kraken Hockey League also begins Sept. 21, filling the Iceplex with games evening in and night out.

While the forward line of Scheutzow-Lawrence-Anderson (nickname submissions welcome, and there might be a natural defender among them) was motivated by friendship and wanting to know more about the sport with which they already have a working knowledge, Hlinka said Kraken games at Climate Pledge Arena or on the Kraken Hockey Network (KONG, Amazon Prime, KING-5) provide major inspiration.

“It's the desire just to try a new sport,” said Hlinka, when queried about why those 40 men and women are lacing up the skates and trying to put on their equipment properly in early weeks (the instructors are happy to assist). “The sport is hot right now, so why not try it? It’s the coolest game to watch, especially in person. If someone sees a game live, you might not understand it all right away, but we find people are soon thinking they would like to play themselves.”

Let’s Go to the Whiteboard ...

For his part, Hlinka and his fellow instructors recognize that Adult Learn to Play students are navigating a fun, if relatively steep, learning curve. However, Hlinka ensures that new concepts are introduced each week as participants continue to improve their skating skills (including backward skating, which initially seems daunting) and stickhandling (maintaining control of the puck while keeping it away from the body and feet, thereby reducing the need to look down).

One week, Hlinka detailed how the defensive position is played. Later in the summer, Hlinka whited-boarded forechecking before sending out three players at a time to mimic the “F1, F2, F3” systems employed by NHL teams and their forwards to win the puck back in the offensive zone. During scrimmages (huge fun for all players), the coaches had the class change “on the fly” when substituting players, with those exiting the ice calling out what position the sub was replacing before returning to the bench by jumping over the boards and/or finding the open gate.

“When Marty starts writing on the whiteboard, I am locked in,” said Lawrence. “I know so much more now about how players handle their positions and the speed of an NHL game. I didn’t think it was gonna be effortless by any means, but the idea of skating, holding a puck or trying to follow the puck, keeping the puck, moving backward, forwards, spinning around at the NHL speed, it’s hard to imagine.”

Self-Fulfillment Along with the Fun

Scheutzow said learning to play the sport provides “a hobby to do that I'm not necessarily trying to be the best at.” She wants to continue playing, maybe taking Learn to Play a second time, for the sheer joy of it.

“Week 1, I was so nervous,” said Scheutzow. “I was wondering whether it was too late to back out! Then at the end of Week 1, I survived, and wanted to come back next week. My dad – who passed away last year – used to say, ‘Everyone starts as a beginner. ’ On that first night, one of the instructors popped into the locker room to ask if anybody needed help with their gear. No one said a word. I looked around and said, ‘We all know what we’re doing? Come on, really?!' Everyone laughed, and it helped break the ice.”

“I'd say I've definitely doubled my skill level,” said Lawrence, when asked to supply a scouting report on her game after a Week 9 workout. “That includes putting on the gear, because that is an art form. And a big one. It takes a lot of time.”

“I definitely feel like I could use 10 more weeks of getting better,” said Anderson, taking the long view of her summer of skating and chirping. “Before this class, I could rent skates and get around the rink ... now I can skate backward for the most part. I stop really, really well. I feel that I am starting to get good at certain skills, like edge work and crossovers. I came to realize that when you're actually out there playing in a scrimmage and not thinking about my outside edge or the crossover to the right, your body takes over and does what we've learned. I’m way more comfortable on the ice.”