By 10:15pm on a Saturday night, pubs in the heart of Edinburgh have filled with tipsy students, and clubs are opening to serve the drunk ones. Meanwhile, further out of town, in the cold and empty Murrayfield Ice Arena, the Edinburgh Eagles take the ice in the first official hockey game of the new year.
Players hail from all over — local Scots play alongside Canadians, Americans, and Germans; energetic undergrads receive pucks from experienced postgrads.
Since the start of the season, the Eagles have been coached by Isaac Cirinna, a Texan postgrad who lives and breathes ice hockey. Isaac captained the Monarchs at King’s College, Pennsylvania, won the Texan State Championship as a coach for his local high school team, has given lessons to dozens of players of all ages, and organized more than ten hockey camps. And all this is just a small selection from Isaac’s longtime commitment to the sport.
Besides coaching the Eagles and pursuing a postgraduate degree in Theology, Isaac works with the U14, U16, and U19 teams of the Edinburgh Capitals, the local SNL team. He now stands on the side of the rink, tactical whiteboard in hand, watching his players face off against the Manchester Metros.
The Metros show up with only ten players, having carpooled the roughly five-hour drive north. The numerical advantage home teams have in the league creates a clear discrepancy that all players acknowledge. Isaac believes that the league games are good learning experiences for the players, and demands that they stay focused on the ‘little things’ no matter the score.
Wearing the number 24 for Edinburgh is Maxi Dimov, a rookie in this year’s team. Maxi started playing ice hockey at the age of eight and kept striving to improve his game throughout his childhood in Aberdeen. Determined to play hockey at the top university level, The Eagles were a core reason behind his choice of university.
Maxi is looking forward to the end of April, when the best teams in the UK will compete in Sheffield for the National Championship. Having been informed of the back-to-back finals reached in the two previous seasons, he believes he can contribute to ensuring the Eagles finally win the prized tournament. He also notes how impressive the experienced Isaac has been coaching the team, particularly in transforming the group into a properly cohesive unit.
Maxi is insistent that this team can go all the way, and coach Isaac seems keen to join the team on the ice for the decisive tournament.
Near the end of the game, the Eagles’ number 15 scores, and the arena erupts. The scorer’s name is Sava Seltzer, a player all insist is the workhorse behind most of what the club does, both on and off the ice.
Sava is the treasurer for the team, collecting payments from the players and fighting for university funding to keep said payments at a minimum. Financing the Eagles is a tough task due to funding and donations having dried up in recent years — the team was even close to falling short at the start of the season. In addition to his role as treasurer, Sava also runs the team’s social media and books the minibuses for away games.
Just like Maxi, Sava has his eyes set on the upcoming Wookey Derby against Saint Andrews on 17 April and Nationals thereafter. Regardless of the extra money he’ll need to scrape together, Sava is confident the Eagles can succeed and is hoping for support from the stands.
“Even if we have only five people show up, you hear them, and it gives that extra boost of energy! It helps so much — you get your 15 seconds of fame!”
Speaking about Nationals, Sava is clear about how big it would be to win the tournament: “This is the Stanley Cup for us! It’s what we want to win.”
The player skating circles around the Metros and the winner of ‘Eddie the Eagle’ — the internal MOTM prize — is number 9 Mark Taylor.
Mark is an Eagle veteran and as close as you can get to true experience in such a young team. He was in the last Eagles’ team to win both Division I North and the Nationals back in the 2018-19 season.
Mark also drives the minibuses that get the team to and from away games. Thanks to his license for the larger vehicles, Mark’s driving saves the club precious funds, and lowers the cost for players.
Further up in the stands sits Mark’s father, sporting an Eagles knit cap. He comes to these games to catch a glimpse of his busy son, who balances playing hockey with a demanding job and postgraduate studies.
The game ends 10 – 0 in the Eagles’ favour. The small locker room is soon filled with celebrating players as beers get passed around, steam billows from the showers, and ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift echoes against the walls.
Tomorrow, many of these players will get on a minibus, booked by Sava and driven by Mark, and make their way down to Leeds to play yet another distant away game. Tonight, however, they are victorious, and as they sip their Camden beers, the warming lagers almost begin to taste like Nationals glory.
Image by Holly Allan for The Student