Blue Jackets back on the ice after six-year hiatus

Nov. 30—Everything Joshua Meyers needs for motivation can be found in the banners hanging on the east end of the ice rink at Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

Four banners in particular, representing New Mexico Interscholastic Ice Hockey League championships won by the club hockey Santa Fe Blue Jackets, captured the junior's attention when he was in elementary school. The Blue Jackets were a juggernaut during the mid-to-late 2000s, winning four straight titles from 2007-10.

But it's been 12 years since those halcyon days, and six years since the Blue Jackets played a varsity schedule. Meyers' dream isn't so much about adding another banner to that wall — he surely would entertain the chance, Meyers said — but to bring back club hockey to the high school level.

"Ever since I was a child, I've been playing here," said Meyers, now a junior at Santa Fe Prep. "Seeing the four straight banners up on our wall kind of made me think, 'If you've got the numbers, why not try to bring this team back?' "

The numbers are there, as 15 players lined up Nov. 19 for the resurrected Blue Jackets' official return to the club hockey scene. Success might take a while, though.

Santa Fe looked the part of an expansion team in an 11-3 loss to the New Mexico Cougars in front of a boisterous crowd of about 250 people in its first varsity game.

Blue Jackets head coach David Gonzales acknowledged his young composite team, filled with mostly underclassmen from Santa Fe High, Santa Fe Prep, St. Michael's and a couple of other local schools, has a ways to go to compete at the varsity level.

But seeing the outpouring of support from the community made that first step in the journey of bringing the program back to respectability, if not dominance, all the more enjoyable.

"The crowd we got and the support was incredible for a first game," said Gonzales, whose son Mick was a part of those championship squads. "The kids were so excited that, as a coach, I didn't feel like I had to go in there and get them amped up. They were almost too amped up. I had to almost soften [his pre-game speech] because they were so ready to go."

The return of the Blue Jackets mirrored the rise of interest in hockey with local youth. Gonzales said the teams in the mid-2000s were a product of the sport's growth about a decade earlier. Interest in the sport grew to the point that the Northern American Junior Hockey League brought the Santa Fe Roadrunners to town for a three-year run.

Gonzales said as quickly as interest grew, it dissipated just as quickly. When his son and the seniors on the 2009-10 team graduated, the pipeline of talent steadily dried up. When the Blue Jackets fell early in the league tournament, it signaled the end of the club team because of a lack of players.

Gonzales said the 2008 recession greatly impacted both the Blue Jackets and Santa Fe Youth Hockey, which served as the feeder program. Sponsorships dried up, and the success of the program led to the exodus of some of the top players to move out of state for better competition.

The proliferation of specialized athletes also greatly diminished the pool of potential players, Gonzales added.

"We weren't getting a lot of new blood," Gonzales said. "So it trickled down and got to the younger groups until we ran out of gas."

Ironically, the return of the Blue Jackets began right at its demise. Gonzales coached a group of middle school players he anticipated could bring the program back in a couple of years. Then, another setback occurred when the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020.

Not only did it set back the Blue Jackets' return for two years, it also siphoned off much of the talent he helped coach. Only a couple of players from that group, including Meyers, are on the team.

Fortunately, another strong group of middle school players followed, and make up the bulk of the roster. The Blue Jackets played a junior varsity schedule in 2021-22 in preparation for a varsity reboot this year.

If anything, the Blue Jackets are still very much a junior varsity squad playing up a level.

"It's basically all last year's JV," freshman Lila Wagner said. "I think we definitely didn't have a great start, but we have time to make it come back."

Wagner speaks from experience. Last year, the Blue Jackets struggled through the first half of the season, before finishing with a six-game winning streak as they beat teams they lost earlier in the year. Gonzales said a similar pattern could happen this year, but it will take patience, practice and progress for that to happen.

"We got a few, strong kids who are competitive statewide," Gonzales said. "After that, we are playing a lot of younger kids. Some of them are still 14. I mean, they're ninth graders, but they're still 14. So we got a lot of younger kids and some smaller kids, then a small group that are kind of our work horses at the top."

Gonzales said he hopes the reboot of the Blue Jackets sustains itself. Santa Fe Hockey has done a good job building a solid foundation of future players, which will help fuel the program, which plays in the Rio Grande High School Hockey League.

After a two-week layoff that coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday, the season kicks into gear this weekend, as Santa Fe gets a rematch with the Cougars on Friday in Albuquerque. Then, it's off to Colorado for a couple of out-of-league contests with Telluride, which is also struggling with participation levels.

The rematch with the Cougars will be key for Gonzales, as he gets a chance to see if his team shows improvement from its inaugural varsity performance.

"We know the mistakes we made," Gonzales said. "We know where all of our weaknesses are, and we're trying to address some of the weaknesses we had. I'm looking forward to playing that team again and seeing if the players respond to that."

Hopefully, those banners that Meyers sees every practice have the same effect on the rest of the Blue Jackets.