On a normal night, it takes Susan Schupay 10 minutes, tops, to make it from her family home near 65th and Keystone down to Pepsi Coliseum.

This, though, wasn’t a normal night.

Fact is, there haven’t been any normal nights, or days, since she lost her husband, Michael, who was a local grass-roots hockey zealot and president of the Indiana Ice the past three years. He died of a fatal heart attack Nov. 30, a loss that shook Indy’s small but tight-knit hockey community.

Twice since her husband’s passing, Susan had come to the Coliseum to watch the Ice, only to dissolve into tears the moment the puck was dropped to start the game. "Opening faceoff, and out to the car,‘’ she said. "Both times. I just couldn’t make it.’’

This time, though, she would come to the rink and stay. She had promised Ice owner Paul Skjodt, who had begged her to come. She had promised herself.

“It usually takes 10 minutes, maybe seven, to get from our home to the rink,‘’ Susan said Saturday night between the second and third periods of the Ice’s Clark Cup-tying 5-2 victory over the Fargo Force. "Today, it took 45.’’

She smiled.

“Ask me how many times I turned around on the way down here,‘’ Schupay said, laughing. "At least 10 or 15. Every street, I’d go down Keystone, then I’d make a left and go back north on Allisonville. Then a little farther down Keystone, and the same thing, a few blocks at a time. I kept saying to myself, ‘I can do this. Ihaveto do this. I told them I’d be there.’ I just kept going around the block over and over again, a little farther south each time.’’

Eventually, she made it, and while the tears came as they always come, as the memories came flooding back in torrents of sadness, she sat in her front-row seat in the corner of the Coliseum and watched Mike’s boys — her boys — even up this best-of-five series at one game apiece.

“Being here, it’s horrible and it’s wonderful, all at the same time; does that make sense?‘’ she wondered. "It’s horrible and wonderful. I keep thinking Mike is going to turn the corner. To be honest, hockey has kind of lost its spark for me. My sons were watching the (Washington-Pittsburgh playoff game Saturday afternoon), but I just quietly left and went outside.

“But these (Ice) kids deserve it. These kids are playing their hearts out. And I know Mike would be here with them if he could. I know heiswith them.’’

When it ended, the Ice on the right end of a 5-2 score, Susan banged on the glass and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Wonderful and terrible, all at the same time.

The nature of junior hockey is that it’s a revolving door of names and faces. Young men between the ages of 16 and 20 populate the United States Hockey League, and they come to places like Indianapolis to draw the attention of a Division I college or, if they’re extraordinarily gifted, the National Hockey League.

During that brief time together, though, they form deep bonds, whether it’s with the local families with whom they take up residence or with one another. Schupay earned a spot in all their hearts with his infectious optimism and his boundless passion for the players and the sport. The players are wearing patches on their sweaters — it reads "MWS’’ — and there is a sign in the dressing room and in the arena honoring Schupay. But it goes much deeper.

These players understand they are playing for something much bigger than themselves.

“He was such a big part of what we’re doing, and he cared so much about us,‘’ said Ice captain Brent Gwidt. "We know how tough it’s been for her (Susan) and their (four boys). We know it’s such a hard time for their family, but to see her in the crowd like this, it’s special. It means a lot to us.’’

After Indiana’s Stanislav Galiev scored the game’s first goal on a second-period backhand, he immediately skated toward the corner where Schupay was sitting and jumped up against the glass in front of her seat.

“At one point, I was sitting there and Zach Golembiewski, he was on the ice, he saw me and gave me a smile,’’ she said. "Or when the boys skate by and they tap the glass with their sticks right by us, it just breaks my heart.

“That’s why I have to stay here. This is where I belong.’’

There may be one more trip down Keystone to the Coliseum before this season ends. The series is tied at a game apiece, but the Ice are 3-2 on the road this playoff season. If it goes five, the Ice will play for the championship at home next Sunday.

Susan Schupay will surely be there. It just might take awhile to make the trip.