Ian Hoang, senior forward for the Long Beach State hockey club, left the team three quarters into his first season and went outside to play semi-pro hockey for the Los Angeles Junior Kings.
Hoang and his friend, former 49er Zac Zomaya, were dissatisfied with the LBSU hockey program that then-head coach Joe Sheehy was running.
“[Sheehy] was a good coach, but he knew nothing about hockey,” Zomaya said. “They didn’t have a coach to show them how to play.”
Growing up, Hoang was usually in a rink with players that were ultra-competitive, so when he and Zomaya first started playing at LBSU, there was a sense of disappointment.
“It wasn’t the same; it wasn’t the same competitive nature,” Zomaya said. “There was no urgency, no scouts.”
As a 14-year-old, Hoang was playing with guys already getting scouted by professional and Division I teams.
“When I got to 15 or 16, it started getting super competitive,” Hoang said. “All my buddies started getting drafted or moving away to nice hockey prep schools.”
Two of his friends that moved on to the next level were Rocco Grimaldi, a center for the Florida Panthers, and Nick Crudillo, who got drafted by the Anaheim Ducks last off-season.
Playing with talented hockey players like Grimmaldi and Crudillo ultimately raised the level of Hoang’s game. But when he got to LBSU, he said it was a major drop in competition, and Hoang started having second thoughts about his decision to play hockey at The Beach.
“After [I left the team], my parents didn’t want me to go to a different school,” Hoang said. “Even though I was getting scholarship offers from different Division I schools, they were too far.”
Hoang returned to the Junior Kings where he had success on the ice as a 17 year-old, winning the Under-18 Pacific District championship against the Alaska Wolves. Even if he didn’t enjoy his first season at LBSU, he was not ready to leave home.
“My parents didn’t really want to see me go away,” Hoang said. “So I just decided to stay here and finish my college years at CSULB with Frank [Mitrano] who got hired the year after Joe got fired.”
From there on Hoang noticed an improvement and never looked back. This season, the 5-foot-7-inch speedy forward accumulated 47 points off 14 goals and 33 assists.
“He’s one of our fastest if not the fastest,” Mitrano said. “He doesn’t play like a short player, he’s one of the guys that defenses have to look after.”
Speed is the advantage Hoang has on his opponents.
“100 percent speed, when he has the puck, there are always two defenders on him,” Zumaya said.
Hoang had a rotten first season at LBSU, but the Orange native’s career as a 49er almost never happened. When he was applying for colleges, his counselor at Villa Park made mistake when it came time to send Hoang’s transcripts.
As a result, he was denied by CSULB’s admissions on his first try. Luckily for Hoang his friend from high school came through with a save.
“The captain from my freshman year talked to the president, and then [I] sent in the appeal and what not,” Hoang said. “It ended up that they messed up on my transcripts. So I just reapplied.”
Now Hoang is a semester away from graduating with a degree in Biology. Hoang’s athletic career at LBSU is also coming to an end, and he has his eyes set on trying out for a professional hockey team overseas.
“That is what I eventually want to do because my parents don’t want me to do anything with hockey [professionally] until I graduate,” Hoang said. “So I’m just riding it out right now until I graduate.”
After graduation Hoang hopes that Mitrano can help him get connected with a professional team so he can continue playing his favorite game while getting paid.
Mitrano suggested that is a lot easier said than done.
“I’ve got a handful connections, [but] Its not easy, especially since he’s an import,” Mitrano said. “They can only have so many players that aren’t of the nationality. You have to be significantly better for them to have you there.”
Hoang isn’t leaving out hope. One thing is for sure: Hoang’s time spent at LBSU was not left undone.
Hoang admits, “In the end, everything worked out.”