Ice hockey players are the Rodney Dangerfields of team sports at UCLA. Try as they might, they can't get no respect.

Despite their 75-year history as a campus sport, Bruins on ice skates have been getting the cold shoulder for years from some campus sports writers and sports fans who prefer the warmer temps of the Rose Bowl or Pauley Pavilion to the Healthsouth Training Center arena in El Segundo, home ice to the 26-member squad, competitors in the PAC 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference, which just completed its 2001-02 season.

"At a university dominated by football and basketball, club sports always end up taking a back seat," observed team manager Patrick Masson, a former player who is now the team's No. 1 cheerleader and a program analyst at the School of Dentistry. "But in our case, it's worse. Ice hockey is just left on the corner watching the car drive away."

It's a humbling experience, but one that fosters perseverance. Masson's calls to the campus radio station to ask for game coverage sometimes go unreturned.

When Masson tried to entice the UCLA Marching Band to play at their games four years ago, he was told he had to pony up big money before the band would appear. Ever-persistent, the team manager got the next best thing: the El Segundo High School Band, which happens to use UCLA's fight songs for its own team.

To make ice hockey interactive, the team invites spectators to join them on the ice after the game.

"I want people to get to know this team," Masson said. "Our athletes are just as committed as those playing the varsity sports, but varsity athletes get the red carpet treatment. Our guys put in just as many hours to train, but they have to do it at weird times because they can't pay for premium ice time."

The cost for cheap ice time? $325 an hour for a night-owl practice session that starts at 11 p.m. Helping the Bruins with donations and equipment are no less than the L.A. Kings, who also train at Healthsouth. Head coach for the Bruins is Daryl Evans , who does radio color commentary for the Kings.

Ice wasn't always such a foreign object in Westwood. Masson has located a picture in the 1930 UCLA yearbook that shows that an outdoor ice rink was once located between the Men's and Women's Gyms.

In 1926, the Bruins picked up hockey sticks for the first time and for three straight seasons dominated the Southern Intercollegiate Hockey League. In 1928, before a record crowd of 1,500, UCLA faced the Trojans for the first time on ice and lost by one goal. Today, the rivalry still draws the team's largest crowds, around 2,000, and coverage by Fox Sports West.

Masson promises spectators action-packed thrills. "You're sitting right down there, not way up in one corner of the Rose Bowl where you can barely see the ball. You can even goof off and pound on the Plexiglas when an 'SC player skates by."

Watch for next season's opener against Stanford at http://illus1.dent.ucla.edu.