Kakabeeke, 52, knows Ruelas, 51, well as the two grew up and played hockey together as kids before college; work and family had them drift apart naturally.
As one of four boys, his parents didn’t have a lot of money but enough to make do. Ruelas and all three of his brothers ended up playing a variety of sports. One day, another boy down the street had come back from watching the Kalamazoo Wings of the old International Hockey League. This was during the heyday of the K-Wings, when they won back-to-back Turner Cups in 1979 and 1980.
That kid went out into the road with a stick covered in electrical tape and emulated the players he had just watched. The Ruelas brothers became intrigued with the game and became aware of KOHA, which originated in 1965, and told their dad they wanted to play, too.
“Graciously, he started all four of us the same winter,” Ruelas said. “None of us had skated before. He bought us some skates, which were figure skates, and we ground off the toe picks. I learned how to skate in the road. Even in the road, it was brutal. Then we went to a lake here or there.”
One of the obstacles to getting any kid involved in hockey has always been the cost of equipment, but somehow, Ruelas’ dad came up with low-cost versions of what the four boys needed.
“Our equipment was so horrible,” Ruelas said. “We kind of got made fun of a little bit.”
After learning how to play in the 8-and-Under program, their equalizer was their skill level, with the Ruelas brothers letting their play do all of the talking on the ice and at school. Eventually, Ruelas’ older brother made the roster of the Kalamazoo Junior Wings of the NAHL, while Juan instead played at the 16-and-Under level.
Wanting to sharpen his game, Ruelas’ mom would drive him about two hours from Kalamazoo to Detroit to play in a summer league each Sunday. As a Hispanic hockey player, Ruelas was the subject of some racism on the ice. It wasn’t his first experience with racism, but it nonetheless was an eye-opening experience.
“I had a pretty normal upbringing in a diverse population,” Ruelas said. “Then I go in there [to Detroit] and these are my buddies?”
Fast-forward to now having a family of his own — stepsons Malachi and Berkley Cox are 24 and 21, while sons Jesse and J.J. are 15 and 12 — and Ruelas encouraged Berkley and then Jesse to get involved with hockey.
“It’s funny because when I started doing that, that’s when I ran into Matt again,” Ruelas said. “I haven’t seen him since like junior, senior year of high school.”
As fortune would have it, Ruelas and Kakabeeke each had a son born in 2007, so they played on the same team. Ruelas helped coach that group through squirts, peewees and bantams. His approach and communication had an origin in a rough inner-city teaching experience.
