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IOWA STATE DAILY
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Iowa State Daily reporter Sarah Muller writes about her experience joining the Archery Club at Iowa State. PAGE 7 THURSDAY 11.30.2017 No. 67 Vol 213
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KODY REUTER AND COLTON KRAMER
DYNAMIC DUO BY SPENCER.SUCKOW @iowastatedaily.com
When they’re on the ice together, senior defenseman Kody Reuter and junior forward Colton Kramer don’t even have to say a thing. They each know what the other is going to do.
Knowing and playing with each other for as long as they have will have that effect. “After so many years, you get the sense where each other is going to be at,” Reuter said. Reuter and Kramer, both natives of Sioux City, Iowa, have known each other for over a decade -well before they were both integral parts of one of the top American Collegiate Hockey Association teams in the country. The two first met while playing youth hockey in Sioux City, but both have since seen their journeys lead them to the Austin Bruins of the North American Hockey League and eventually to the Cyclones. They don’t recall when exactly that first meeting took place, but growing up the two got the chance to know each other well as a result of playing on the same team every other year. “Back then, [Reuter] was always a bigger kid,” Kramer said. “He’d kind of throw the body around, he was a stay-at-home defenseman. That’s kind of always how he’s played.” But while Reuter plays a more physical game at 6-foot-4, Kramer features a finesse style of play at 5-foot-9. The two briefly went their separate ways when they reached high school, as Kramer left Sioux City to play midget hockey in Omaha, Nebraska, while Reuter spent time with the Sioux City Musketeers. However, their paths would cross again when the two joined the Austin Bruins, where they went on to play with two more members of the current Cyclone hockey team, juniors Tony Uglem and Jake Arroyo. Reuter was a late-round draft pick of the Bruins, while Kramer was signed by the team as one of their seven tendered contracts. In Austin, the two became team leaders and both played roles in helping lead the Bruins to the Robertson Cup Finals two years in a row. Their contributions while in Austin, as well as
their tough individual styles of play, leadership and work ethic, gained them the admiration of teammates and coaches alike. Among those admirers was then-assistant coach Jamie Huffman. Huffman, now a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins, reflected back on his time with Reuter and Kramer, as well as Uglem and Arroyo, with great fondness. He notes the four fit the tough as nails mentality the team tries to instill in all of their players to a “T,” and they would consis-
tently run practices and hold players accountable for their actions on and off the ice. “They grew every which way you could, not only on the ice, but off the ice as well,” Huffman said. “They’re young men that I would take down a dark alley, and have no problem [with them] being around my family.” Reuter came to Ames a year before Kramer did, and he, along with other incoming recruits, helped play a part in getting Kramer to join them as Cyclones. Now upperclassmen at Iowa State, Kramer and Reuter are seen as part of the glue that holds the No. 11 team in the country together. Both have had great careers to this point, with Reuter likely being the team’s best defensemen and Kramer being a part of the team’s top scoring line since his freshman year. “They’re gritty, they both play with an edge all the time and they’re both competitive as hell,” said Cyclone Hockey assistant coach Mark Huber. “Every shift that they both log, they’re fighting. To
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h a ve that in both guys, that ’s the best trait a hockey player can have, to play with that edge day in and day out.” That similarity in attitude on the ice only helps with the unspoken connection the two share from knowing each other for so long. Also helping is the fact that the two frequently hang out together off the ice as well, doing things like playing Xbox (Mario Kart is a favorite) and finishing homework together. While the team as a whole is close and hangs out frequently, according to Kramer, both him and Reuter acknowledge that their hometown roots will always make their bond a little tighter, with Reuter saying the bond is almost second nature. “We’re all pretty good friends on the team, but me and Kody [Reuter] are a little closer,” Kramer said.
SARAH HENRY/ IOWA STATE DAILY From Sioux City, Iowa, both Kody Reuter and Colton Kramer have not only been friends, but hockey teammates as well.