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BYU professor, students participate in late-night hockey

(Derek Vanbuskirk)

Although most are not yet ready for the cold, there are a few BYU students and professors who deal with the cold all year long.

BYU religion professor Daniel Becerra spends his nights playing hockey at Peaks Ice Arena.

'I played in high school for like a season of roller hockey, and then a guy in my ward wanted to know if I wanted to do this. So, I learned to ice skate in a couple of weeks and came out here, and this is my second season with the Gladiators,' Becerra said.

The Gladiators are a hockey team based in Provo.

There are quite a few BYU students — and even some faculty members — who lace up skates for the Gladiators, according to Becerra.

In addition to late-night practices, they also often have games on school nights that could go until 1:30 a.m.

Bethany Syphus is one of the students on the hockey team and recently had a bit of a rough and tumble. She hurt her leg during a hockey class at BYU just last week.

'Anybody can do it. I couldn't even skate in January, and I decided I wanted to do it ... and here I am. Clearly, I can't skate now because I'm broken, but if I wasn't broken, I'd be out there skating,' Syphus said. 'There were sticks and skates everywhere, we also ran into the net, so then my skate got caught, and I went down on it... broke my leg.'

Syphus will be out for the next ten weeks.

The Gladiators are just one of the many teams that play at the peaks arena, so make sure to come by during one of their late-night games and show some support.