The Quad-City Blues might never have the numbers of similar programs in Chicago, Peoria or Rockford. But the high school hockey team has just the sort of attitudes coach Paul O'Dacre craves.

"I've played football and baseball and all kinds of stuff," Bettendorf senior Jonathan Dziuk said. "I was just better at hockey, so I stuck with that."

It wasn't so much that Dziuk (pronounced Duke) was a natural on the rink, rather he found hockey enjoyable on a level that kept him returning to the Quad-City Sports Center.

The Blues are made up of prep players from communities in and around the Quad-Cities and are in the early part of their 10th season in the Midwest High School Hockey League.

O'Dacre has had the program for two full seasons and is vested in reviving a youth program that thrived with 600-700 participants in the heyday of the Quad-City Mallards.

This year's group is off to a 4-4-1 start this season after a dreary 9-17-2-4 campaign.

Between the varsity and JV teams, the Blues have a roster of 30. Not huge, but dedicated.

Unlike years past, this season's roster features no one from Davenport high schools. That's a non-factor for O'Dacre.

"I've never traced where the kids came from," he said. "All you know is they love hockey."

That's crucial when playing at least three games a weekend for three months.

Like all hockey, the physical toll can be debilitating, as Bettendorf's Matt Bettenhausen found out last weekend.

A hit sent him head-first into the boards, and his memory was slow to return. To O'Dacre's delight, his captain's enthusiasm hasn't wavered.

"I also play football and soccer, but it's not the same as hockey," Bettenhausen said. "It's not very popular. Not a whole lot of people do it. If you do it, you feel pretty cool."

Bettenhausen has played hockey since first grade. Dziuk started skating at age 2.

Plenty start, but the trick has been retention.

Cost is an issue. Between travel and equipment costs, a season can run an athlete $5,000.

Competitive balance - or a perceived lack thereof - has hurt at times as well. O'Dacre has seen several of the more talented youth take their skills out of the area in search of bigger challenges.

And the stigma of hockey as a lesser sport still is being overcome.

"Football and high school sports are just so big here," O'Dacre said. "That's great, but it makes my job harder sometimes."

Perhaps the biggest help in the long run could be the OneGoal program, an international NHL-sponsored program that teaches the game to elementary school kids for $55.

The success in the two-plus years of OneGoal has O'Dacre excited for the future of sport he considers the world's best.

"It's pretty cool," said O'Dacre, whose team next plays at home Dec. 12 and 13 against Sioux City. "I try to make sure the game continues to grow here, flourish."