Musketeers' clubhouse leads the league

"This is the fourth league I have worked in and the sixth team I've worked for," says Waddell, equipment manager for the Sioux City Musketeers.

When it comes the Musketeers' clubhouse and locker facility within the Tyson Events Center, Waddell's praise lights the lamp, as they say.

"I've been in at least 100 facilities. There are some nice and some not nice. I remember one team dressing in a portable trailer," he says.

The Musketeers dress in a circular room plush with emerald green carpet, a big screen TV and a white board allowing Coach Brett Larson to cover each pregame detail before his captive audience.

"Nobody hides in a round locker room," says Waddell, the man responsible for laundering and setting each jersey just so in the spacious wooden player lockers. "You look everyone in the eye, dead in the face."

Locker facilities in Fargo, N.D., and Pittsburgh, Pa., are just like it.

There is one rule: No stepping on the Musketeer logo that's emblazoned in the carpet at the center of the room. A mandatory $50 fine is levied upon any player who missteps that way.

"You don't step on that logo out of respect and what this organization is all about," he says.

A member of the organization gets that message immediately upon entering the clubhouse. Just 20 steps from the Tyson Events Center ice you walk through a doorway. Just to the left is Coach Larson's office. Staring you in the face is a Musketeer logo and this saying, "It's a privilege to be here."

Other printed plates remind players of their place here, their mission here. They're placed in spots around the modern weight facility, the separate dressing room (called the dry-change area) and the shower. "You hear, you forget. You see, you remember. You do, you understand," is one reminder from Confucius.

Ten new spin bikes have a room just off the round locker facility. Players go in shifts of two after each game, spinning to work the lactic acid from their legs, allowing them to hit the ice fresh the following night.

Just feet from the bikes are weights, big screen TVs and a glassed-in room featuring two hot/cold tubs and training tables for the athletic trainers to help players work out the aches and pains.

"They re-did the locker area last year and added a sauna," Waddell says. "We never had a sauna before."

The dry-change area featuring smaller stalls for each Musketeer allows players to change from their street clothes (they always arrive on game day in slacks, suit coats and ties) to Under Armour, the material they wear beneath their equipment.

Waddell places each player's equipment and jersey in the rounded locker area. Picture a clock with a player's stall at each hour of the day. All the jerseys are hung in the same manner, with the back of the jersey directed at the center of the room. The skates on one half of the "clock" point one way; all skates on the other half of the "clock" point the opposite direction.

Each player has shower sandals bearing his jersey number. And each player has a nameplate above his locker which shows his name, number and hometown. The hometown addition is a conversation starter for newcomers and a source of pride for each man, naturally.

"We are in the Top Three in the league (United States Hockey League) for facilities," Larson says. "Having this allows us to recruit better players. The league itself has some very high standards."

"It is a privilege," the sign reads.

Between the dry locker area and the rounded locker are two signs, facing one another in a bright yellow hall. The U.S.H.L. teams standings comprise one of the signs, a daily reminder of where the Musketeers are in this battle for postseason play.

The other sign is elaborate, detailing when and where each past Sioux City Musketeer played college hockey and/or the National Hockey League. Since 1992, the sign shows, 34 Sioux City Musketeers have been drafted by organizations in the N.H.L.

Rotislav Klesla was the fourth overall pick in the 2000 draft. Three Musketeer alums were drafted by N.H.L. teams in 2010.

Nearby is another sign, another reminder of each young man's place in this competitive world. "Learn as a student, develop as an athlete," it reads. "Grow as an individual."