Ice hockey strives at VCU despite hurdles

It is not easy being a member of the VCU men’s club ice hockey team.

One of the biggest problems is the question you are asking yourself right now: ‘VCU has an ice hockey team?’

“That’s the most common response I hear when I tell people I play hockey,” said Jono Flakowicz, a senior defenseman.

VCU does have a hockey team and it is actually pretty good. It currently ranks second in the Northeast Division of the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference. A win against Radford Dec. 3 gave the Rams a 6-4 record.

Ice hockey at VCU is a Division III club sport, which means funding is limited. Each member of the team pays $400 in dues each semester. To receive money from the school, the team must file paperwork every semester or they do not see a dime from the University.

“We usually get about four or five grand from the school, but we’ve had some issues,” said senior forward Matt Doe, who also serves as club president. “We didn’t get any funding last fall because we didn’t turn things in on time.”

Doe said they turned all required paperwork in this semester but have yet to hear back from the school. Without funding from VCU, the team relies solely on player dues and their one sponsor, Pence Auto Group. But this is not enough.

“We’ve had to cancel away games because we couldn’t afford to rent a van,” Doe said.

Most of the money goes toward paying for ice time. This includes both practices and games.

“Probably the biggest difficulty for any club sport is cost,” said head coach Sean Gulla, who played for the team while he was a student at VCU. “Because we can’t play outdoors on a field or something, we have to buy ice time and it’s pretty expensive. Our budget this season was about $25,000.”

Because there are only two ice rinks in Richmond, the team is forced to practice late at night.

“Monday and Thursday nights we start around 11:40 at night and get done around 12:40. It’s pretty late for students who have morning classes or guys who have to work in the morning,” said Gulla, who is not paid to coach the team.

Doe, who’s in his fourth year on the team, said he has adjusted just fine to the late practice times.

“We’ve been on the ice until two in the morning before,” he said. “You get used to it. You learn not to schedule classes early. When I was a freshman I had an 8 a.m. class and never made it there.”

With the lack of buzz on campus, recruiting players has not always been easy. The Web site (www.vcuhockey.net) now has a recruitment form players can fill out online, which the coach said has boosted this season’s turnout.

“In the past we’ve had only 15 guys show up for tryouts, who were all on the team,” Gulla said. “This year we actually got to pick and choose a little bit.”

The coach doesn’t cut any players, but not all players necessarily play. Some do not dress for all games, but they are expected to show up and contribute in other ways.

“Typically non-playing members will help us out with water bottles and equipment on game nights, greet people at the door, sell T-shirts, things like that,” Gulla said. “Hopefully that way everybody feels like a part of the team.”

The team plays its home games at SkateNation, an ice rink in Short Pump. All games are free to students and the general public.

Gulla said the team draws some 50-60 fans per game, a number he would like to improve. Many are friends and family of the team, but Gulla said there are also a few true hockey fans that show up to almost all home games.

“Hockey fans are the most passionate and dedicated fans of any sport,” Gulla said. “Once you see a game or two of ice hockey you’re hooked.”

Three years ago the team got national recognition, even though it was getting little acknowledgment at home. It was invited to the men’s Division III ice hockey tournament in Muskegon, Mich. This invitation posed an added problem to the under-funded club.

“We panhandled,” said Doe, who was a freshman at the time. “We walked around the Fan and said, ‘Give us money.’ And then the school actually gave us some money.”

VCU was the first team in the conference to ever be invited to the tournament.

“When we approached the school about going, they actually kicked up the funding a little bit and helped us get to nationals because it was so far way,” Gulla said. “They did take notice when we were recognized at the national level. Only 16 make it out of 300 or 400 teams now. It’s something to strive for, and when we get there again, it will be that much sweeter because so few teams can do it.”

Though a club sport has many drawbacks, the guys play simply because it’s fun. They were brought together by their common love of hockey and many of them hang out every weekend, including after their late-night practices.

“The only things I can complain about is VCU doesn’t give us very much money and the practices and games are always late,” Flakowicz said. “But we can still play hockey, and that’s all that matters.”