From Alaska to Utah
Five years ago, Logan Huppert, Alex Lund and Chase Allington were scattered throughout North America. They spent their youth growing up together in Wasilla, Alaska, but after high school the three each went their separate ways.
Lund went to Utah State to play Hockey for a year before choosing to go on an LDS mission and Huppert went to school at Arizona State University, while Allington remained in Alaska.
When Lund got back from Provo, where he served his mission, he returned to USU. He said he knew his friends were ready for a change of pace and wanted to help them out.
“Logan was looking for a new place after ASU, and Chase was looking to play hockey again,” Lund said. “So I tried to get them up here (at USU).”
At Arizona State, Huppert was playing for a men’s league team. It wasn’t competitive, but he said it allowed him to keep his skills up in the desert state. Allington went a different route. The forward ended up in Canada, playing junior hockey.
Allington and Huppert came to USU for try-outs and made the team. Lund said at first the two weren’t very excited about the concept of playing in Utah, but they warmed up to the idea.
“It ended up being a pretty easy decision for both of them,” Lund said. “It was pretty easy for all of us to get together and play a little more hockey together.”
Ultimately, Huppert said, both his decision and Allington’s were solidified by the academics at Utah State.
“They have a good program here for engineering, and that’s why I chose it,” Huppert said. “Chase chose the school for the medical school.”
In 2010, the three were back on the ice together, this time in Aggie blue. Huppert and Lund were back as defense partners, and Allington secured a place at the forward position.
“It got us close,” Huppert said. “It got us back together. Alex went on his mission, so he drifted a different direction; Chase was in Alaska, I was in Arizona — so it got the three of us back together in one place.”
The trio’s friendship goes far beyond the ice at the Eccles Ice Center — they have known each other since they were six years old. It takes some time to actually count the number of games Huppert, Lund and Allington have won while playing together.
“My family moved to Alaska in 1994,” Lund said. “I met Chase and Logan and we played on the same teams all growing up.”
They developed their game and friendship through hockey. The three learned how to play on a pond in the Lunds’ backyard.
“We were neighbors. We lived probably a minute away from each other,” Allington said. “When we were kids, almost every day we’d go to his house and play on his pond.”
Lund said it was the typical Alaskan story.
“We just grew up playing on a lot of outdoor ice,” Lund said. “My family lived on a pond, and we always cleared that area off. We got used to doing a lot of skating like that.”
He said hockey was always a huge part of the boys’ lives.
“Hockey was a pretty big part of what we did and who we are,” Lund said. “It’s what we associated ourselves with.”
Though Huppert said the three are now best friends, there were times when they weren’t extremely close.
Lund said his friendship with Allington has always been good, but he and Huppert experienced some rocky moments.
“Logan and I used to be worst enemies,” Lund said. “There was a time when Logan and I were playing on the same team and we got into a fight. He actually hit my facemask up and it broke my nose.”
Huppert said the back-and-forth brawling between the three was all for fun, however.
“None of us used to be friends, because we all fought,” Huppert said. “Even in high school, we were the ones in the hallway play-fighting.”
Allington said memories like that are all too rare for most people. He considers the three lucky to be in the position they are in.
“We reminisce all the time,” Allington said. “How many people actually get to do that? How cool is that?”
On the ice, the three friends all agree, there is a definite connection.
“We have the chemistry from growing up,” Huppert said.
Lund agreed and said their flow on the ice goes far beyond their friendship off of it.
“We know each other’s style,” Lund said. “It’s always easier to know what they are going to do because we’ve been playing so long.”
Huppert said each of their different playing styles fits together perfectly, and though they each specialize at something different, it all comes together when they skate.
“Alex is more of a step-up pla
yer,” Huppert said. “I’m more of a conservative player, and Chase has always just been a little fireball on the ice.”
They each agreed that their closeness isn’t replicated with the rest of the team.
“There is a certain level of closeness that we have on the ice that we don’t have with others,” Lund said.
The opportunity to cultivate that closeness after so long is something Allington values. He said playing at Utah State has brought the three friends together again.
“It’s kind of cool. It’s awesome,” Allington said. “We grew up together, we went our separate ways for a couple years and are able to come back and play hockey together again.”
– meredith.kinney@aggiemail.usu.edu