By

Louisville hockey is back. After a year absence at U of L, the team has rebounded and is now in the process of rebuilding the organization.

Earlier this semester, team captain, Brian Block, started posting flyers on campus. Less than two weeks after the flyers went up, the team had their first meeting and decided to get involved in the Louisville Adult Hockey Association as a C-plus league team.

“C-plus was just something for us to get games this semester so the team could play together. Joining the LAHPA [Louisville Adult Hockey Player Association] was just a way for us to do that,” said Block.

After establishing a team in the C-plus league and securing a few games, the team moved on to trying to get practices together. With several action plans drawn up, the team finally secured a slot on Wednesday nights and it wasn’t long after that the team found players and a coach. They acquired five students from Bellarmine to bring the roster to 13. They brought in Coach Noah Blue, who is an employee at Iceland, where the team has their games and practices. Blue is also an alumnus of the U of L Hockey Team.

“We are out here for fun,” said Blue. “We are getting a team going again that hasn’t been around for a year and [putting] on a show.”

The team is holding several fund raisers to get more students involved, to begin building up a fan base and to make money for the team who that is largely responsible for their own finances. On the Friday night before homecoming, the team held a “Skate Night” where they charged $5 to people who wanted to skate. The team members wore their jerseys and gave out skates and a few lessons.

“Skate night was a huge success,” said Block. “It was great to see the support from people that showed up. I think we can continue that tradition and continue building a fan base.”

Others at Iceland are also excited about the team. Chip Sobel and Bob Valvano (U of L basketball commentator) are co-owners of Gotcha Bocce, the bar/restaurant above the rink. They are happy to have college hockey back.

“There is nothing better in sports than representing your school, because you only have a limited amount of times when you can put a uniform on that has your school name on it. That’s why high school and college hockey is so much better than youth travel hockey,” said Sobel.

Some other fund raisers include selling t-shirts for $15 apiece with the Louisville Hockey logo on them. A bake sale was proposed to go along with t-shirts sales.

“It’s club hockey so we are responsible for the monetary portion of the team,” said Block, “which means we have to pay for the ice time, jerseys and our equipment.

“We get no help from the university. It has the same pains as NCAA hockey, but none of the luxuries. So we have to fund raise on our own.”

The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) works so that each team operates itself. In previous years, companies like UPS, Buffalo Wild Wings and Marine Electric helped sponsor the Louisville team, but it is still largely a student run organization, with the players taking the heaviest financial burden.

There are three types of ACHA teams, Division I, II and III. Division I is reserved for the best teams, while Division II is held for teams similar to UK. Division III is the lowest level.

“In previous seasons we were in Division III of the ACHA,” said Block. “But this year we are not part of the ACHA and are looking to go independent and pick it back up with them next year. My hope for the team is that we get back where we used to be – conference champs – and have a large program with a large sponsor base and a large fan base.”

As of now the team has no scheduled games, but is working to get games against EKU, NKU, UK, Xavier and a handful of other schools. They also plan to have at least two games at home. Block expects the first home games to be in November. By the spring they hope to have a full schedule of games.

With the team rebounding, Block just wants to send one message to the fans: “We just want more students. We really want the students to come out in large numbers and be as loud as they can.”