Vinnie Hinostroza said he and fellow Blackhawk Ryan Hartman are "a package deal."
The two live together, hang out off the ice together and occasionally play on the same line.
As teenagers, they played hockey for the Chicago Mission, and they played for the Rockford IceHogs last season hoping for a chance to crack the NHL.
But during the fall of 2007, when they were 13, Hartman and Hinostroza were a package deal of another kind _ the backfield duo for the Bloomingdale Bears, a travel football team.
"We were both pretty tenacious players back then," Hinostroza said. "We'd cry every time we lost. At that age we wanted to win so bad that me and him would pretty much go at it."
If you watch the Hawks, you might be able to guess who played which position.
Hinostroza, who is among the fastest skaters in the league, was the primary ball carrier, while Hartman, who isn't afraid to mix it up with opponents, provided blocking at fullback and tight end.
According to their coach, Norberto Olalde, Hartman and Hinostroza weren't just out there playing for fun. They were the best players on the team, which made it a problem if their hockey and football schedules overlapped.
"They were two of my stud players, and I had to fight with them because they'd be out in tournaments playing high level," Olalde said. "So we were always fighting with the hockey schedule."
Hinostroza was a workhorse running back and got most of the carries, said Olalde, who still coaches for the Bears and owns a CrossFit gym in Bensenville, Ill.
"What was great about him was that he used to run like he skated," Olalde said. "He had a very good eye for the field. It was almost like he was skating, and we'd always compare it to that. We'd say, 'Dude, this isn't hockey!' But it was perfect because he could find holes normal running backs couldn't find."
Sometimes Hartman would help create those holes. Other times, Hinostroza just found them on his own.
"We didn't really need a blocker because he was so fast," Hartman said. "He was always running by me before the line of scrimmage. ... Even if guys were running at him, he was able to get around them, so he didn't really need too much blocking."
But if he did, Hartman was there to provide it. Hinostroza was so successful running the ball that Olalde said they probably overworked him.
Meanwhile, Olalde said you could see the beginning of a mean streak in Hartman when he was 13. He was a quiet kid, but on the field he was a bruiser.
"Man, that kid was tough," Olalde said. "That kid wasn't afraid of anybody, and he had never played football before. So we worked with him. ... We could tell him to go hit somebody, he'd hit somebody.
"He would nudge a guy or get in somebody's face. He would do it legally, but he wouldn't say a word. There was no (expletive)-talking with him. It was just, 'I'm going to pound you and I'm going to be OK and walk away.' We used to love watching him do that."
One time, according to Hartman's father, Craig, Hartman clocked an opposing punter but wasn't aware you could get flagged for roughing the punter.
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