All athletes have to make sacrifices in order to excel.

For South Albany High School’s Kyler Zimick, that sacrifice includes spending part of this year away from his family, friends and classmates so he can play hockey.

Zimick, 18, plays for the Eugene Generals of the Northern Pacific Hockey League, an elite league that develops players for college competition or for the highest levels of junior hockey.

The Generals practice almost every day and travel throughout the Pacific Northwest for games every weekend. Zimick is in his first year with the team and is living with his grandparents in Eugene during the season.

“It’s hard,” said Zimick, who typically sees his family - parents Dirk and Marci Zimick and brothers Cameron, 21, and Jeramy, 14 - once a week.

Zimick is enrolled in an independent study program at South Albany and is taking an English class at Lane Community College to help him stay on track.

“Kyler had to give up a lot for hockey. With it being his senior year, he has to make an extra effort to make sure he is getting everything done to graduate,” Marci Zimick said. “Having Kyler out of the house before he has graduated is so different. It is very quiet around here now, and we don’t go through near the food either! It has been especially hard on our youngest son, Jeramy, because he and Kyler are really close and did a lot of stuff together.”

Zimick will return to South Albany for the final trimester of the school year to finish up his studies and graduate. He plans to attend college - he is deciding between Oregon, Oregon State and the University of Denver - and then go to dental school and become an orthodontist.

In the meantime, it is his opponents who may need dental work as a result of meeting up with the 5-foot-10, 200-pound defenseman.

“I love it,” Zimick said of the sport. “Honestly, I don’t have the greatest skill set, but I can hit a lot. My game is more quick passes, smart decisions.”

He has recorded two goals - one of them a game winner - and six assists this season in 24 games, very respectable totals for a defenseman. He has also amassed a team-high 121 penalty minutes.

“I guess you would consider me the enforcer,” Zimick said. “All in all, we really try to stay away from it (fighting), but when there’s a cheap shot, I step in and do what I need to do.”

Marci Zimick said she and her husband aren’t big fans of that part of the game, but it doesn’t take away from their love of the sport.

Dirk Zimick played hockey when he was younger and living in British Columbia, and he immersed his children in the sport. Cameron, a South Albany graduate, played for the River City Jaguars, a rival of the Generals in the Northern Pacific Hockey League. Jeramy, a sophomore at South Albany, is working his way up and plays for the Portland Junior Hawks.

The Generals are in second place in the league’s Pacific Division, just behind the Seattle Totems. The team is a lock to reach the postseason with an opportunity to qualify for junior nationals, which will be held in Boston.

“We actually have a real good shot at making it to nationals,” Zimick said.

Playing at nationals could prove to be the conclusion of his hockey-playing career. Zimick isn’t sure he would put off going to college to continue playing for the Generals (which has an age limit of 20), although if an opportunity came through to play at a higher level he would take it.

In the meantime, he will live his dream. The Generals play the Rogue Valley Wranglers this weekend in Medford and will be home on Jan. 2-3 to play Couer d’Alene.

Zimick would love to see more people come out.

“Not too many people from around here have witnessed a hockey game. There’s hardly ever a stoppage of game, it’s a constant battle,” Zimick said, before adding his final touch. “Not to mention, you can fight in it.”