Santa Fe Families Open Hearts and Homes to Roadrunners
March 24, 2005 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Topeka Pilots News Release
Back in mid-September with only two days notice, Santa Fe families opened their homes to twenty-four players from the Roadrunners Junior A hockey club for the season. Some housing families who had never seen hockey, became regulars at home games and on internet junior hockey forums in an effort to keep up with the team on the road. With the regular season over and the playoffs only a month long, many families are preparing themselves for when these 18-20 year-olds go to their "other" homes in places as far away as Minnesota and New York. While some players will be leaving to go to college, including Bryan Plaszcz (Maine), Andrew Johnson (Bentley), Eric Dahlberg (UConn), and BJ Bayers (Air Force), most are expected back in Santa Fe for next season in August.
"These boys have become part of our family and I am sure the boys will be very upset when they leave, no matter how much we prepare them," says housing dad Russ Cagnoni who took on three "big brother hockey players" for his two sons, Ryan (9) and Kyle (7)." Unlike most Santa Fe billet families, Russ Cagnoni had prior experience with billeting. He grew up playing hockey and billeted himself when he was young player. When the team moved to Santa Fe, he was eager to give something back to hockey. He began with billeting forward Corey Stark and ends the season with an entire line â Stark, Jared Brown, and Anthony Bohn. Despite the burden of feeding three large appetites, Cagnoni says that "billeting has been one of the best things that we have ever done."
As a thank you to the families, the Roadrunners will host a Housing Family Skate on Saturday night at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center for billet families and players. "Despite having no experience with junior hockey, families from all over Santa Fe were surprisingly open to welcoming a 18 or 19 year-old into their homes for up to nine months," says housing coordinator Susan McMichael. "It has been a fantastic experience having Brian Cowell become part of our family and it will be sad for us when the season is over."
The housing families are paid a monthly stipend directly by the player's family and are expected to provide room and board, sometimes transportation, and lots of tender, loving care. The players are expected to clean up after themselves, obey house rules, and become part of the family. More than one family began the housing experience by agreeing to take one player for a few nights and kept him all season. Some families have housed up to three different players throughout the season as players were traded to other teams or released and new players were added to fill the void.
Santa Fe begins its playoff run against Texarkana in the best-of-five Division Semi-Finals with home games in Santa Fe Friday, April 1st at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 2nd at 7:30 pm. Game 3 of the series will be Friday, April 8th in Texarkana, with Game 4 and 5, if necessary, on Saturday and Sunday. The winner goes on to the best-of-seven Division Finals and battles for a spot in the National Championships to be held April 26-30th between the North, South, and West Division winners and the host Bismarck Bobcats.
Playoff tickets are on sale now for $10 each at the Roadrunner box office, the front desk of the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, the Villa Linda Mall Customer Service Desk, and all Los Alamos National Bank locations.
For more information contact Roadrunners General Manager Bob Pope at 505-469-5200.
North American Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2005
- Kaufmann backstops Ice Dogs to playoffs - Fairbanks Ice Dogs
- Tornado await playoff opponent - Texas Tornado
- Bulls clinch second heading into playoffs - Billings Bulls
- IceDiggers move final home game to Alpena - Alpena IceDiggers
- Santa Fe Families Open Hearts and Homes to Roadrunners - Topeka Pilots
- Pros vs. Prospects: One Magical Night - Texas Tornado
- U.S. National Team weekly report - U.S. National Team
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