Our state. Our team.

The new slogan for Illinois’ Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is a call to action for Illinois to be the dominant school of the state, as well as to attract incoming recruits to stay loyal to their state school.

The hockey team does an exceptional job of representing the slogan, with 24 of its 28 players hailing from the Land of Lincoln.

While forward Jon Langan and defenseman JT Turner come from neighboring states — Wisconsin and Indiana, respectively — the other two are outliers on the map. Senior defenseman Kent Kovalsky’s hometown is Philadelphia, while sophomore forward Mario Pacheco is from San Jose, Calif.

Kovalsky is the old man on the team; he’ll turn 25 next March and has plenty of hockey experience. He played three years of junior hockey in the EJHL with the Capital District Selects before coming to Illinois in 2009. Kovalsky made a minimal impact in his first two years, appearing in just seven games, but has found a role on this year’s team.

Playing in 11 games, Kovalsky has just two assists but has served the traditional hockey role of the enforcer, picking up team highs in both penalties (13) and penalty minutes (37). Coming from blue-collar Philadelphia, there are parallels with his roots while on the ice.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Kovalsky said. “My size got me into that. Since I was 16, I was over 6 feet, so even the older kids would try and mess with me.”

His teammates have come to rely on Kovalsky to protect them, namely goaltender Nick Clarke, and make sure opponents think twice before entering the crease during games.

One tough aspect Kovalsky has learned to deal with in his Illinois career is the fact that his parents can only see him play “once a month or so.” In addition to the distance from his home, the lifestyle in Champaign was a change.

“It was a little different my freshman year,” Kovalsky said. “I had never been to the Midwest, so the culture was different for sure than the East Coast.”

The main cultural difference, both Kovalsky and Pacheco noted, was that people in Champaign are nicer than their respective hometowns.

“The people are so nice here, very welcoming,” Pacheco said.

On the ice, however, the pair both added that the playing style is pretty much the same anywhere across the country.

“You could replace them with any of the guys from back home and it’d be the same,” Pacheco said.

Some of the Midwest’s culture is starting to rub off on Pacheco, as he’s become a “converted Blackhawks fan” thanks to the large majority of his teammates, in addition to his San Jose Sharks from back home. He hasn’t fully assimilated to the region just yet, as he still says he would prefer In-N-Out Burger to Steak ‘N Shake any time.

Although a sophomore in academic standing, he is in his first year with the team. He’s played in all but one game and has netted three goals and one assist thus far. Pacheco got off to a hot start in the beginning of the year, scoring a goal on successive Saturdays in the first two weekend matchups against Michigan State and John Carroll.

The sophomore also has to deal with the strain of distance from his family but has learned to manage it. His mother made one trip to Champaign near the beginning of the year, and his parents regularly tune into WPGU for the games. Pacheco said he and his parents talk almost every day.

For both players, their hometowns mean little on the ice, but off of it, the duo has adjusted to life in the Midwest just fine.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.