It’s 5 p.m. on a Wednesday in early November. Outside of Munn Ice Arena, the distant sound of slap shots has given way to the immediate sound of 49cc moped engines.

One by one, 14 members of the defending national champion MSU hockey team filter out of the arena, hop on a scooter and zoom off in various directions.

Tomorrow these same mopeds will bring these same players back together. It’s what they’ve been doing for years.

The origin of the moped spree
In 2003, Chris Snavely, then a freshman on the hockey team, bought a 1980’s Honda Spree. With a little work, he got the bike running.

“He could probably open up his own scooter shop,” junior forward Dan Sturges said of Snavely. “He knows how to take one apart and put it back together.”

Soon, Snavely and several other members of the team began to conduct time trials on the streets surrounding their house.

The Spree was infectious.

“Everyone thought they were fun to drive, they saved gas money after the initial expenses and we wanted to make a name for ourselves on campus. So we all started buying them,” said senior defenseman Jeff Dunne.

Snavely helped members of the team tune up and fix their mopeds, and Zamboni drivers from the rink would help with engine repair from time to time.

Team scoots cruising
Like many freshman members of the 2007 squad, Jeff Petry learned about the moped lifestyle from his teammates and bought one himself at the beginning of the year.

“When I came in, that’s just something that they’ve done for years,” said Petry. “I know a lot of guys when they graduate they’ll pass them down, but I just thought I’ve got a couple of classes that are pretty far away, so I decided to get one.”

After practice, he’ll often join teammates for a “Scoots Cruise,” an hour or two ride around campus or East Lansing.

“Whenever we have a team event, and we’re all getting off at the same time and nobody has anything to do, we’ll just go for a ride around town,” said freshman forward Andrew Rowe.

The rides help build a cohesive atmosphere, an important component to a successful team.

“I think that’s one of the things that helps get the guys together,” said junior forward Matt Schepke. “I mean during the warmer part of the year there’s 18 to 20 guys on scooters riding around with each other. It’s always fun to just get with the guys and take off.”

The closeness of the team is evident in the players’ willingness to share their mopeds.

“All the guys just kind of help out,” said Schepke, standing in front of the scooter he borrowed from Tim Crowder. “You know if you need to borrow someone’s they just give it up for the day.”

The savings (and costs) of driving a moped on campus
While most players acknowledge the tradition, they’re also quick to explain the practicality of the moped lifestyle.

Mopeds that are properly registered with MSU Police and Public Safety can be parked at a bike rack, saving the time and expense of finding parking on campus. And at 60 to 100 miles per gallon, driving a moped to class and practice costs much less than driving a car.

“I mean there’s no parking on campus, and they’re great for gas,” said junior forward Tim Kennedy. “I fill up and pay about $2 for gas every three weeks.”

For Dan Sturges, who lives off campus on Lewis St., driving his moped to class saves him time and energy he needs for practice.

“I’m not much of a walker anyways,” he said. “It’s just kind of nice when you get up you don’t have to worry about getting to class, and it kind of helps when you come to practice and you’re not tired from walking around campus all day. It’s a pretty big campus.”

But failure to abide by MSU Police and Public Safety rules can be costly, a lesson several members of the team learned this year.

Until this year, most players parked their scooters on the ramp in front of Munn. Although the players parked their mopeds some distance from the nearest bike racks, they had no problem with tickets.

But this year things started to change.

“For some reason, they started just handing out tickets left and right,” Jeff Dunne told Sparty Secrets in a Facebook message. “We were told we had to park them at the bike rack, and so that’s what we started doing.”

Dunne began parking his scooter next to a bike rack, but apparently not close enough.

He walked out of class to find his moped, which he had parked alongside a few team members’ scooters, on a tow truck.

“I had to pay $35 to get it down and $25 for a ticket,” he said. “It’s a little ridiculous and PACE [sic] needs to leave them alone. They have other things to take care of.”

Other players received tickets for failing to register their mopeds properly.

Many had paid the $15 dollars to register their bikes for a year with the state – a requirement to drive mopeds on Michigan streets – but failed to pay the one-year, $65 registration to the MSU Police.

“Some got registrations but others just park them where no one can see them (like today),” said Dunne.

Fast facts
To be street legal in the state of Michigan, a moped must have a piston displacement of less than 50 cubic centimeters. On flat ground, the speed of the moped should not exceed 30 mph.

Anyone with a operator or chauffeur license can drive a moped legally, but special moped licenses are available to those 15 and above.

Drivers over the age of 19 are not required to wear a helmet.

To learn more about moped requirements in Michigan, see the Secretary of State web site.

Of the 14 mopeds parked outside of Munn Arena last week, there were 9 Yamaha Zumas, an E-Ton Beamer, a Honda Ruckus, a Super 95 by Kymco, a ZSM by Zongshen and one 1986 Honda Spree (Zak McClellan’s).

Most of the mopeds above have two-stroke engines that, like lawnmowers, push a mixture of gasoline and oil through the carburetor.