Game Time
*36 Hours Prior to Time of Game One*
Beep beep, beep beep, it is 7am on a Thursday morning and Western Michigan University (WMU) Bronco’s star hockey forward Ethen Frank’s phone alarm is going off, time to get up for practice. He gets up and ready and gets on his motor scooter and drives off to Lawson Arena for breakfast before practice. On this particular day, breakfast is a make-your-own omelet station catered by a local Kalamazoo restaurant. After breakfast, Ethen and the team get together with the coaching staff for a quick meeting, and then to the locker room to get ready for practice. Thursday practice consists of a variety of warm up drills, cardio skate, and then formation practice. After practice, he meets with the coaching staff individually, to go over and prep for the upcoming weekend series. Following practice and meetings, Ethen heads back home and gets ready for class and a nap.
*26 Hours Prior to Time of Game One*
After a full day of practice and school, Ethen and the team head to Niskers Bar and Grill for a team dinner. Typically, the food is not the best, so most of the guys meet up after to eat again or a different meal. After eating, Ethen either hangs out with some of the other guys, or goes home to work on class work, or prep for the upcoming game. With an upcoming game the following day, he tries to get to bed around 11pm or 12am.
*11 Hours Prior to Time of Game One*
Ethen’s gameday schedule is usually quite full and begins with a 9am wakeup, followed by making coffee at home. Around 9:15am, he rides his motor scooter to the rink for 9:45am team breakfast. Following breakfast is the first team meeting of the day, which typically runs until 10:45am. After team meetings, Ethen straps on skates and heads onto the ice for a 20–30-minute warmup skate, and then a good team stretch period. After stretch is a noon lunch, which could be catered by many different local restaurants. After lunch, Ethen heads back home to hang out with some of the guys on the team or plays video games for a bit of down time, and some more stretching.
*2 Hours Prior to Time of Game One*
After some time at home after the morning skate and an afternoon of homework, Ethen gets dressed at home and then heads over to Starbucks before heading to Lawson Ice Arena. There, he orders a large white chocolate mocha. By the time he gets to the rink it is 5:30, and he changes into the first layer of his uniform before heading to one last meeting before the game starts. After the meeting is the “25-minute team commitment stretches” at 6pm where Ethen and the guys all get their heads right and ready for the game. Then they see trainers and get dressed for the game.
*5 Minutes Prior to the First Game*
The national anthem will play, and the team will do starter introductions, which Ethen usually is. Then the game is underway, and typically takes about two and a half hours. After the game, the team meets in the locker room for a post-game recap. Ethen will then meet with trainers, and then heads upstairs with the rest of the team to have dinner. Dinner is catered by different Kalamazoo restaurants. After dinner is over, Ethen goes back home, showers, and hangs out with some of his teammates for a bit, before heading to bed around 1am.
*11 Hours Prior to Game Two*
It is Saturday morning now, and Ethen’s alarm goes off at 9am and he makes coffee from home, and then heads to the rink for a 10am team breakfast, typically catered by Maggies Cafe and Catering. Around 10:30 is a team warmup skate, followed by 11am meetings- team meetings and individual meetings. After lunch Ethen heads home and starts his Saturday pre-game ritual. He typically starts by taking an ice bath, and then follows the ice bath with a nap. Depending on how long he decides to nap, he might get some homework done before the rest of the night’s activities.
*3 Hours Prior to the Time of Game Two*
It is now 4pm, and Ethen gets dressed and heads to Starbucks again for another large white chocolate mocha, and heads to the rink to get ready for the game. Around 4:30pm, Ethen will re-tape the stick he will be playing with that night, he will get on the ice and do some warm-up skating, and then meet with trainers before meeting with the team around 5:30pm for the team stretch. After the team stretch, it is time to get completely dressed and ready for the game, and then out onto the ice for a bit of skating and shot practice.
*5 Minutes Prior to the Game Two*
Just the same as the night before, the national anthem will play and the team will introduce their starters, and then the game starts. Over his four years at Western Michigan University, Ethen has scored 31 goals and 57 points for the Broncos.
*Post Weekend Series*
After the game the team will have their final meeting regarding the game and the weekend series. Ethen will then meet with trainers, and then the team heads upstairs again for a catered dinner. After dinner, Ethen, and the rest of the team heads home to take showers and then to go out to have a fun Saturday night!
*Post hockey*
Due to COVID-19, Ethen has decided to stay at WMU and use his COVID based year of eligibility for one last go around with his colligate team, before heading to the professional league. After graduating from Western Michigan University with a degree in Sport Management, Ethen plans on playing in the National Hockey League (NHL), with his dream team being Colorado Avalanche. After college, and after his hockey career he would like to be an agent for hockey players.
“I’ve decided to come back because the culture we have been building in the past four years means a lot to us,” Frank said. “We feel that we have some unfinished business left from last season and I am more than happy to come back and spend another year at WMU.” -per Frank to MLive.com
