Congratulations to the Cryptic Studios roller hockey team for winning its league championship! We got team captain Craig Zinkievich (executive producer) and designer/defense wizard Aaron Safronoff to tell us about the team and playing for Cryptic.

Q: In what type of league does Cryptic complete?
CZ: We play in a roller hockey league at Rollin Ice (www.rollinice.com) in San Jose. We play in the D7 league – Rollin Ice says it "consists of almost all beginning players" – but really it means playing with a lot of people who just learned to skate. : )

Q: How long has Cryptic been participating in the league?
AS: It's been almost two years. Each season is approximately 3 months long, and the team at Cryptic has been participating for 7 "seasons."

Q: Who are some of the teams that you compete against?
CZ: There are between eight and 12 teams in the league per season. Many of the teams are other companies, some are just groups of guys who have played together for years, and a few are pickup teams.

Q: What is the average level of hockey experience on the team?
AS: Some of us have played formally in years past, but most of us have had little to no experience.
CZ: Luckily there were some experienced guys to help the others learn how to put on their pads right for the first couple games.
AS: I never imagined having to teach someone how to wear a cup.

Q: How often do you practice?
CZ: Almost never! We’re that good. : ) Actually, we play a game once a week – sometimes we get the chance to rent a rink out to hone our skills, but most of the time we just work on learning during the games.

Q: Who makes up the team roster?
CZ: We’ve got someone on the team from pretty much every discipline here at Cryptic. Here’s the roster:

• There’s me, Craig “Zinc” Zinkievich. I’m team captain, because nobody else really wanted to organize. I play forward, and am executive producer at Cryptic Studios.
• Aaron “Head on a Swivel” Safronoff plays puck moving defense and looks around a lot. He plays a designer for Cryptic.
• Sam “The Man” Thompson, who started playing with us this season as a forward and already has a reputation for pulling out clutch goals. Sam is a graphics programmer at Cryptic.
• Mike “Deke Meister” McCarry plays forward. Mike is our token Canadian, has been the scoring leader for our team most seasons, and works for Cryptic as game programmer.
• Michael “Last Man Back” Lewis plays the defiant defenseman for our team and is the president of Cryptic Studios.
• Alan “Sandman” Salmassian knocks our opponents out with his sweet moves in the offensive zone as a forward and is the quality assurance lead at Cryptic.
• Michael ”Gatorade” Cavallaro is a Concussive Defenseman™ driving the opposition off the puck at every opportunity and he also is art effects lead for Cryptic.
• Chris “Spin O’Rama” Stewart is the ironman of the game, a defensive forward and an offensive defenseman. He is a programmer on the infrastructure team.
• Martin “Savage” Simpson plays the most tenacious forward on the team, has the most Zen-like puck handling skills of any of us. He is a senior programmer on scary core systems here at Cryptic.
• Andy “Too Good for Our Team” Velasquez played hockey in college and has been our leading defenseman in the last two seasons. Andy is an associate producer on Star Trek Online.
• Daniel “The Man” Won is our goalie. We picked him up on the outside but he is now an honorary member of the Cryptic Family. He is currently a programming student.

Q: What were some of the differences this season over past seasons?
AS: This season the team really found itself.
CZ: Last season wasn’t bad either; we made it to the championship before we were defeated. We prefer not to talk about seasons before that.
AS: In our first 10-game season, I think we won two games?
CZ: And then we went downhill for the second season. As I said, we don’t like to talk about them.

Q: What was the most memorable play this year?
CZ: There were many memorable plays during the season for everyone. Great defensive plays, great offensive plays – everything.
AS: Andy’s goal. Andy’s goal was the best.
CZ: Yes! Andy had this amazing tip-in goal a few games ago. He was lined up just inches from the goal line to the side of the net. He had an impossible angle into the goal. The pass came in from the point and Andy tipped the puck top shelf. It was the most beautiful goal I’ve seen in the league.
AS: It was gorgeous. Too bad it was against us.

Q: What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome on your way to winning to final game?
AS: We couldn’t get everyone to remember the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song before the final game.
CZ: No. No you couldn’t.

Q: What's next for the team?
CZ: We get ready for next season! This is a great group, and we all want to keep playing together. One of the things that makes Cryptic really special is the people. We can work hard and have fun all day, create great games, and still like each other enough that we want to hang out together after work too.
AS: Did you just turn our championship into a recruitment ad? Nice, real nice.

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Craig Zinkievich and Aaron Safronoff Photos Courtesy of Avery Wong. © 2008 Avery Wong.