The holiday season – the most wonderful time of the year – is better spent with the company of family. However, for some the so-called saying home for the holidays holds immeasurable significance when the people you love most live halfway across the world. 

For Curry College’s men's ice hockey team, the holiday break, a time to catch-up with family and hometown friends, serves a more substantial purpose when eight members on the 29-man roster are international students. Curry's roster features players from Canada, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Latvia.

For these men, nowhere is too far and no place is too unrealistic when hockey is your life. Roland Polasek, a senior goaltender from Bor, Czech Republic, appreciates the opportunity to head back to Europe for a break – although he prefers one leg of the trip much more than the other.

“I am always happier when I am about to fly home compared to when I fly back to the U.S.,” he said. “Of course, seeing family and all my friends who I grew up with is something I miss a lot when I am in the U.S. What I also really miss is the food. The first week being back in the Czech Republic, I don’t even care about money. I just eat everything I see.” 

American food wasn't the only cultural adjustment Polasek had to make when moving to the States.

“The weirdest thing for me was how everyone you meet, they tell you, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ or ‘What's up?’” He said. “We don’t say that in Europe. We just say, ‘Hello.’ In the beginning, it felt weird because I felt like I had to answer everyone – how I am doing – and ask them as well.”

Unfamiliar greetings were just one of many communication barriers Polasek faced as a newcomer to America.

“It was really hard at the beginning,” said Polasek, “but it is getting better and better. However, I feel like there will always be some language barrier even though my English will be perfectly fine because there is a different mentality and humor between the USA, Czech Republic, and Europe.” 

These adjustments are something Polasek is used to, though. He’s lived in America to pursue his hockey career for years. 

“I played juniors in Florida,” Polasek said. “Before that, I played in the highest junior league in Liberec, Czech Republic, where I also practiced with a professional team who won the Czech championship. The transition from Florida to Boston was pretty easy for me. I was just wondering how I would handle school in the English language. From Europe to Florida was exciting. Everything was so different compared to Europe.”

Polasek isn’t the only international student who played in the U.S. prior to attending Curry. 

Victor Daigneault, a freshman forward from Rosemere, Quebec, has adjusted to life in America pretty well considering he's been doing it since he was 18. The 21-year-old played junior hockey for the Vermont Lumberjacks in the EHL. 

Being away from home was nothing new for Daigneault, which allowed him to have a seamless transition into Curry. 

“I didn’t feel any emotions because I’ve been used to being away from home since I’ve played three years of junior hockey in Vermont,” said Daigneault, whose junior team was just two hours away from his hometown. “The emotions now are more for my mom because she can’t just drive two hours when she feels like it. It’s now a six-hour drive.”

The international students aren’t the only players who sacrifice time with family to pursue a hockey career. Leaving home to play junior hockey is a common occurrence for ice hockey players looking to play at the collegiate level. 

Blake Rothstein, a freshman forward from Massapequa, N.Y., first moved across the country to Texas after his 17th birthday to play junior hockey for the Texas Jr. Brahmas and the Lone Star Brahmas. 

“I was definitely nervous, excited and grateful,” Rothstein said. “It was a really good experience. I had two older cousins that played for that team and I wanted to follow in their footsteps.” 

Rothstein traveled all across the U.S., from Texas, Maine, Utah and New York, and has lived with seven different host families in the process. Being far from his family made him realize how valuable spending time with loved ones is. 

“Being away from home made me realize how much I valued spending time with my family,” said Rothstein. “I really enjoyed my time with my host families, but I definitely missed my family back home at times.”

After years of traveling coast to coast – or continent to continent – Curry’s men’s ice hockey players knew this was the right place for the next stop on their hockey journey.

“Curry has been, for as long as I know, a winning hockey program,” said Daigneault. “Last year they had an incredible season, finishing ranked No. 5. The facilities are the closest I’ve seen to professional facilities.”

No matter how far they’ve come, they now get to call Milton – to some, just a small town in Massachusetts – home.

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