Ready to Rumble

Sarah Green
Nov 22, 2002

One on One with Defenseman Lee Jacobson

There's something kind of beautiful about minor league hockey. Stripped of all the glitz and glamour of the NHL, the minors still mirror all the elements of "big time" hockey... the emotion, the rabid fans, the travel, the grind. Some guys are on their way up, some guys are on their way down, and others have settled into a nether world somewhere in between. All of them are playing professional hockey, though, even if they do have to work a little construction in the off-season to supplement their incomes. Lee Jacobson is a guy on the way up. The 6'4", 230 lb. defenseman has just turned 21, and has the whole wide world before him.

Jacobson squares off against Neil Posillico of the Amarillo Gorillas. Courtesy of the Fort Worth Brahmas.

A few weeks ago, I made my way across town to the Texas Ice arena, where the Central Hockey League's Fort Worth Brahmas practice most mornings. The rink was freezing, and the players' skates made the sound of a million marbles rolling across a wooden floor. I looked around for the Brahmas' number 12, Jacobson, and he wasn't hard to spot. Physically impressive, long-limbed and solid, his expressive face can change from a menacing scowl to a disarming smile in moments. Jacobson is blessed with what Brahmas' head coach, Todd Lalonde calls a "miserable disposition...what he does naturally is he's a big, physical guy that really intimidates the opposition." He may be miserable on the ice, but Jacobson is open and friendly off it. The Chicago-born d-man may talk casually about some of the dirty work that his job involves, such as the fisticuffs and roughing, but he's also serious about learning all he can, and knowing that this season with the Brahmas, and working with Lalonde, who is well known as a developer of good players, means much to his career. Lalonde states "Lee is a big, strong, physical player who obviously at this level of hockey has to develop some of speed and work on his finer skills... I've seen a tremendous amount of improvement in his play. His physicality and size give him more ice time, and gets him respect from the other players". If this is a year to learn and improve, you can be sure Lee Jacobson will grab a good opportunity and run with it.

Jacobson moved up through the juniors, starting with the NAHL Cleveland Barons and Chicago Freeze, and then landing with the stellar Texas Tornado for two seasons. This past summer, he was called up to train with the AHL Chicago Wolves, a big and promising event in his rookie season.

SG: At what age did you start playing hockey?
LJ: I was 4 years old.

SG: Play any other sports?
LJ: High school volleyball and soccer. I was kind of a jock in school. The sports kept me busy, living in the city, they kept me off the streets and out of trouble.

SG: Hmm, you need to be kept off the streets. I understand that this summer you trained with a boxer. How was that?
LJ: Awesome. A guy from my neighborhood had a gym in his basement, and he kind took me under his wing. I'd go over two or three times a week.

SG: What is the tie-in between boxing and hockey? A lot of you guys seem to do both.
LJ: Yeah. It's a really intense sport. You've got to be as strong as you can and proper technique is everything. It's more or less the same environment as hockey, intense competition. Mentality wise it's the same as hockey. It's great conditioning. It's fun.

SG: Any other sports? Like mountain biking?
LJ: Oh, yeah, in fact I have my bike with me. It's what I do for cardio. Running is very monotonous, but if I'm on my bike, I can ride hard for an hour, versus twenty minutes just being miserable.

SG: Tell me a little bit about training camp this summer with the Chicago Wolves.
LJ: I was there for 2 weeks. I only expected to stay there 4 days, the usual standard for new guys coming in. The first day was a little rough, because I was adjusting to the speed. I had come from junior hockey, tier 2, where I was probably the only guy who came from my level, and my age in the country, so the speed adjustment right off the bat, and I’m competing with guys who came straight from NHL camp, After that I surprised myself. I fit in, I dominated in a lot of ways. I earned myself another week in camp. The game as you move up actually gets maybe easier, because you work with better players, they're smarter, it's faster and as long as you have a hockey sense the game seems to get simpler. I can't wait to get back. I'm going to enjoy this year with Todd, learning and training here and see if I can stick next year.

SG: How do you feel about working with Todd Lalonde? He's loud and uses a lot of F-bombs while he works with you guys.
LJ: I love it. Sometimes I worry that I'm not meeting his expectations. I expect to be perfect. If I screw up in a drill, I want to stop and redo until its right. Todd believes in me, and that's a wonderful thing. I love his practices and I love his intensity. Confidence is everything in athletics, and if you don't have it, you're not going to be any good. Having a coach who believes in your ability and believes in your future is such an advantage.

SG: Whos' your roommate this year?
LJ: Brant Somerville. (#8, Defenseman) He's awesome. We're both jabbermouths so it works out really well. He played college hockey, so I can ask him questions and get feedback. He’s been around a lot more than me, so I can learn from his experience.

SG: Is the road a beating? You guys travel on a bus. Is it hard?
LJ: The road takes its toll on you, but I'm excited to be out there. I'm young and excited. They say you can get "road legs", you know, where for the first couple of minutes of a game you have to adjust on the ice, but I'm excited to play, whether it's on the road or at home. Maybe on the road, I might have a cup of coffee before game, and at home I won't need it.

SG: Is Texas good to you? It's probably surprising that hockey is played here.
LJ: Texas is wonderful. You can't beat the winters.

SG: What about the crowds? Are Texans as smart about hockey as people would be up north?
LJ: Really, it's getting there. Up north, the further you get up to Canada, more and more people know it. From what I understand things used to be down here to where they are now, it's pretty impressive. Hockey's exploded down here. If you had asked me if I'd be playing junior and pro hockey down in Texas 10 years ago, I would have said you're out of your mind, but the way people have taken to it, the way it's expanded is just incredible. It's football for people with short attention spans.

SG: My 7 year old son wanted to ask you if you ever feel like crying if you get hit.
LJ: If you get hit, it's kind of a dull hurt, a dull pain. By the time your body knows to react to it, your adrenalin has taken over. You're constantly hit in this game, so suck it up, get to the bench if it hurts that bad. I don't cry any more.

SG: My son also wants to know if you get all the girls because you're a hockey player. He wants to know this before he decides to play.
LJ: You know I keep hearing this rumor that hockey players get girls. I do alright. You can be a hockey player and be a dull person. I'd rather hang out with someone who has more interests in life rather than "what number is your boyfriend?"

SG: So, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is your favorite book. This tells me you are probably more of a "thinking" than "instinctive" hockey player. Maybe you're more analytical and will practice something over and over, rather than leave it to your instincts.
LJ: Yeah. I'm an analytical and organized person. My room's tidy. I make my bed. It may sound like trivial stuff, but it's order in your life.

SG: What are your career plans?
LJ: I play hockey for a living. I'd like to do this for as long as I possibly can. Best possible scenario is playing in the NHL, having a career out of it. Worst possible scenario, playing for 4 or 5 years, playing in Europe, seeing the world; Pretty good either way.

SG: Scott Stevens irritates me. How come you like him so much?
LJ: His presence on the ice. He takes the penalties like slashing, cross-checking. He's not a big fighter, but he's such a physically dominating player, he simply scares people by the way he hits. He's not a cheap player. I model my game after his, because I play physical, tough, but not a lot of stick swinging. That's not honorable. They said at one point, Stevens hadn't taken a stick penalty in 3 years. Maybe elbowing or roughing, physical penalties. It's incredible to be that dominating a player and not be a stick swinger.

There was more I wanted to ask Lee, but as I looked up from my notes, I could see a group of his teammates standing in the background, obviously waiting for him to finish up and get some lunch with them. He told me they were going to go out later and hear a new band. We shook hands goodbye, exchanged thanks, and then Lee turned to me and said, "My coach got mad at me at yesterday's practice, because I had a smile on my face. I told him, hey, I'm not screwing around, I just like what I'm doing, I'm just happy to be here. I have the best job in the world."

Oh, to be young, talented, and on your way up. Awesome.

Sarah Green will never, ever know as much about hockey or hockey players as you do, but she likes to ask players questions anyway :)

For more info about the Brahmas, go to www.brahmas.com
Special thanks to the Brahmas and Jeff Bowerman.

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