CARLSBAD – Under overcast skies April 4, the Army and Navy Academy roller hockey team realized the American dream: It finally had a place to call home.

JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune Army and Navy Academy roller hockey players celebrated the opening of their new rink April 4 as Cadet Askarian Arian (right) observed.

Like all fixer-uppers, the Warriors' new on-campus rink demanded plenty of sweat equity from its new residents. Coach Justin Hodge and his players traveled to Corona for four straight weekends where they broke down, wrapped up and transported the side boards that now ring their new rink. More than 120 man-hours and several U-Haul trips later, the Warriors had transplanted an entire rink from a Corona hockey club south and into storage with the hope that they might eventually make it their home.

“Those were 16-hour days Saturday and Sunday for four straight weeks,” Hodge said. “We worked until it hurt.”

BY THE NUMBERS 2.5: Years from the initial proposal to completion of Army and Navy Academy's new roller hockey rink 6: Members in the school's hockey club four years ago 30: Combined current members of the school's hockey club and team $250,000: Approximate value of the rink materials transported from a Corona hockey club to the Army and Navy Academy campus $200,000: Approximate total cost of rink project 3: Seasons of competitive hockey played by the school's club team 2: San Diego championships for the Warriors in the bronze division of club play

Like all excited new home-owners, the players couldn't wait to move in. When their new rink was still just a concrete slab, they ditched their old practice grounds on the school's tennis courts and got a sneak peek at what will be a permanent practice facility for the Warriors, other local high school teams and summer youth clinics.

“As soon as we had something to skate on, we did it,” said sophomore goalie Carlos Shannon, who added that the new facility will more than double the team's practice time. “We're definitely faster now, because we can skate every day, two-and-a-half or three hours. Every single day, as long as we want.”

Maybe most important, the Warriors have already put personal touches on their new house, including a placard that commemorates their two San Diego bronze division club championships since the school began competing three seasons ago.

“At the beginning of the year, we were using two halves of a tennis court (for practice),” said senior Markus McMahon, whose Army and Navy hockey career has spanned the duration of the rink project and who has seen practices alternate between the school's tennis courts and the rink at Martin Luther King Park in Oceanside. “Now, within 30 minutes of class, we're playing hockey instead of loading up and driving (to Oceanside).”

Justin Hodge

Acknowledging the program's supporters at the April 4 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Capt. Hodge thanked the school's parents association, which fronted the more than $30,000 to get the project off the ground. Hodge, a native of hockey-crazy Detroit, also thanked individual team parents who have helped to outfit a team made up largely of newcomers to the sport.

Above all, Hodge credited his players, who numbered just six when he arrived at the school four years ago, for growing the sport and putting their labor into the rink's construction.

“We're kind of the redheaded stepchild, trying to get acceptance,” he said.

Due to receive a scoreboard in three weeks, the rink will be a practice facility and a site for youth clinics for the foreseeable future but could eventually host games, giving coastal teams an option beyond the rinks at Escondido's Kit Carson Park.

For now, though, the Warriors are just happy to have a place to call their own.

“I was thinking about that today,” Shannon said. “I can come back and say I helped build this place.”

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