Hans Roxas : Version #24
Name
Born
Oakland, California
Background
Languages
Gender
Pronouns
Orientation
Nicknames
Jersey
Position
Ca
Former teams
NHA Draft
Playing career
Coaching career
Name
Born
Oakland, California
Background
Languages
Gender
Pronouns
Orientation
Nicknames
Jersey
Position
Ca
Former teams
NHA Draft
Playing career
Coaching career
Hana Sweetheart Roxas de la Cruz (born January 3, 1980), known professionally as Hans Roxas, is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who played a total of 5 seasons with the San Francisco Blades in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Blades' National Hockey Development League (NHDL) associate, the Death Valley Heat. They are currently serving as head coach and de facto general manager of the Blades.
Their goaltending style was old-school, relying on flexibility, mobility, and puck handling instead of the more modern butterfly or hybrid style of blocking shots. This style was developed out of necessity, considering Roxas's smaller frame. Roxas was arguably the last stand-up style goaltender in the NHA.
Along with their unique playing style, Roxas was notable for their status as the only openly transgender person in the NHA and one of the only few out gay players in their era. They made a point to dress alternatively and androgynously for media appearances and did a handful of photoshoots for fashion magazines. They are also well known within the Bay Area's Deaf community, as someone who is hard-of-hearing themself and is fluent in American Sign Language.
Roxas retired from hockey following a life-threatening injury during a January 2003 NHA game versus the Winnipeg Wolves, when a defenseman's skate accidentally sliced their common carotid artery.
Public information Show
Not much is known about Roxas's life before their hockey career, but public California records have shown that they were emancipated from their parents as a 16 year old. Roxas graduated from Eastshore High School in 1999. The Eastshore ice hockey team retired their jersey number, 30, alongside Khai Harper's number, 39, in 2014.
Roxas was signed to the San Francisco Blades' minor affiliate, the Death Valley Heat alongside Jakey Goldstrom after a walk-on tryout right before the 1999-00 NHA season was due to start. They had tried out for the organization previously, but only caught the Blades' attention at this particular try-out after stopping every shot from the top line of forwards.
They were called up to the Blades at the beginning of the 2001-02 season to serve as Sid Sixby’s backup.
Following their life-threatening neck injury sustained during a 2003 game, the Blades paid out Roxas's contract and dismissed them from the team. Roxas maintains that they did not agree to the arrangement, since the decision was made while they were still in the hospital. However, there is no official documentation or hard evidence of this specific case. Later that year, however, the Blades' general manager was fired for unrelated labor violations and inappropriate conduct.
Due to poor communication from the Blades' front office and Roxas avoiding media, much of the NHA believed that Roxas was dead until they later re-emerged as a coach. Roxas spent their time away from the cameras to focus on education, graduating from Golden State University in 2007 with a B.S. in Sport Management.
In 2010, Roxas became a goaltending development coach in the Blades organization, working with the Blades and the team's minor league affiliates.
On May 17, 2015, Roxas was named the head coach of the Death Valley Heat.
On December 10, 2015, after several Blades coaches and executives were fired, Roxas was named interim head coach. Before the start of the 2016-17 season, the Blades announced that Roxas has signed a 5-year coaching contract with the Blades, officially becoming the 10th head coach in franchise history. Since the general manager title does not exist anymore in the Blades organization, Roxas is the de facto head of hockey operations and gets final say in contract decisions and trades.
Personality
+ humourous, confident, caring
= unfazed, casual, strategic
- grudgeful, irritable, defensive
Hans used to be quite a bit meaner and uncontrolled. Over the years, though, they’ve become a bit more laid-back and playful. They’re still stubborn and irritable as ever, but at least they act more mature. When they want to be mean, they're more sarcastic and subtle about it. There's also a soft side to them which they've historically tried to suppress, but it comes a little easier now.
They speak and sign in a clipped and blunt manner, often coming off ruder than they mean to. Hans tends to ramble when flustered.
(If you look close enough, there’s a certain air of regret that they are always carrying. Perhaps it’s fear, maybe a sense of failure. It’s heavy and dense and hard to properly see through, like fog over the bay.)
Physical appearance & design notes
- The scar on the left side of their neck starts under their Adam's apple and ends below the ear. They have a misaligned double mars sign tattooed over the scar.
- Their earlobes are stretched to 0g/8mm, about the width of a pen.
- Hans has two moles under their right eye and one single mole on their left cheek.
- Wears a nose ring on their left nostril for casual events, but usually wears an invisible retainer.
- Their highlights in their hair is toned gunmetal silver.
Trivia
- Hans worked as a barista through high school to pay for extra hockey clinics and training.
- Played on the same high school hockey team as Khai Harper, when they were a senior and she was a freshman.
- Hans is shorter than their listed height of 5'6" (5'3")
- Loves to mess with media and tell them the wrong things during interviews.
- A candid of Hans from 2002 circulates the internet as an example of a "scene girl"
- Uses he/him during playing career (1999–2003)
Likes
- Painting
- Friendly banter
- Dogs
- Punk-rock
- Sleeping in
Dislikes
- Change
- Wearing their hearing aids
- Being questioned
- Seeing old pictures
- Sour foods