James Gasseau was once a part of the hard-hitting action that is the National Hockey League. Now he’s a coach for the women’s hockey program at West Los Angeles College in Los Angeles, Calif.

And it’s not all that different.

“You love to step on the ice and compete,” said Gasseau, who has coached the team from its birth two years ago.

“The commitment is good on the coaching side. California women’s hockey is exciting; we’re excited to get involved with it. There are some girls playing D-I hockey and we hope that West Los Angeles College can provide girls to play D-I hockey.”

Gasseau will guide the third-ranked Oilers as they face Iowa State at 1:20 p.m. on Saturday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena. The match-up is just one of nine games in the first Cyclone Invitational, which gets under way with Iowa State versus Colorado at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Gasseau said his players are excited about the commitment on the coaching side of things. He said that helps them move in a positive direction. The Oilers are currently 7-3-1.

“The entire college is behind the program and the girls love the teaching from the coaches,” Gasseau said. “Overall, there’s a good relationship and commitment between myself and my players. California hockey is a small world. The college decided to go with a hockey program and everyone is happy with the decision.”

While the Oilers seem to be on the rise, Gasseau’s former team, the Buffalo (N.Y.) Sabres, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in jeopardy of possibly moving to another city. One option mentioned has the Sabres relocating across the country in Portland, Ore.

Gasseau said it would be sad for him to see his former team moved out of Buffalo.

“It’s sad to see the Buffalo Sabres go because of their history and all the hard work. The reality of the market is another story,” Gasseau said. “I’m reading on it and hoping that something good will happen. It’ll be difficult for the fan base if they do move. I hope that they will be able to find other solutions.”

Gasseau said that the possible move to Portland will be good for the NHL.

“It’ll bring excitement back to Portland. Hockey will get a good boast,” said Gasseau, who played with the Sabres for four years. “It’ll be good for the West Coast, and hockey is improving on the west side.”

Gasseau also played for the American Hockey League Rochester (N.Y.) Americans and called the experience “very good and a lot of fun.”

ISU women’s head coach Blake Marshall said that his team can’t be intimidated by Gasseau’s team. “Obviously they’re going to be well-coached, very disciplined and most likely a strategic team because of his past experience,” Marshall said. “It’s one of those things where you can’t focus just on that. It’ll be interesting to see what they do and how it goes, but we can’t make it a distraction. We won’t do anything different to prepare for them.”

Marshall said that the financial problems of the Sabres is “an unfortunate thing.”

There are very few areas where hockey is a large revenue-generating sport. Everything is bottom line and if it’s not a revenue generator, then out it goes,” Marshall said. “It’s really unfortunate, but it’s going to be a great thing for another city if they do move.”