The University of Tampa hockey team has prepared extensively for their inaugural season and games.
“It’s a lot of work to put a hockey team together in a month,” team president and assistant captain Ricky Duddy said.
The team had to work on more than just the hockey basics. They’ve had to learn discipline and develop team chemistry, particularly among linemates, because it is important for players to know where their linemates are on the ice.
But like all relationships, chemistry does not develop overnight. The team has a few strategies to help it along.
“We’ve all been carpooling to practice, joking around, trying to come up with hockey team nicknames. We still have a ways to go but we’ve come a long way,” Duddy said.
After all this preparation, the moment was almost here. The excitement was palpable in the room as the team gathered for a team meeting days before the first game.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited,” captain and the main architect of the hockey team Leif Benner said.
What the team means to the players cannot be fully understood by outsiders. These students have been playing hockey for years, many for all their lives.
Some of them came to UT, not knowing that an ice hockey team was in the works, and had to settle for either playing roller hockey or accept that they may not step onto the ice again.
“I’m as grateful as I could be for this hockey team,” sophomore, assistant captain Cody Kopf said. “Being part of a foundation is really something else. As a first year program, we can’t expect too much but we can always strive to do better.”
Being new does not concern Kopf.
“That’s going to benefit us versus other teams because we have new motivation to come on the ice and make something happen,” Kopf continued.
For the team, most answers lie in the future. As first year members in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the team is not yet eligible for a playoff berth because of a one-year establishment rule.
“It’s more about building the future. Build a bunch of interest for the club, try to get some good long-term stuff down, and make everyone excited to play hockey here,” Benner said.
After all, the team does not have much of a schedule-only four games.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll get games this season against teams in the ACHA. [Against teams that] don’t make the playoffs,” Head Coach Dr. Steve Kucera said.
Meanwhile, they are playing scrimmage games- two 25 minutes periods- against anyone they can. So far they have played two against Kucera’s men’s team in Ellington and one against University of South Florida.
Against Kucera’s teams, the first time UT was defeated 9-7 but victorious the second time 8-2. Against USF, UT fell 9-5. That loss was not all negative though.
“That was the first time they’ve ever skated against another college team. How can you have expectations when you’ve never played these other teams?
“I was just very pleased that we did as well as we did against USF. And I think in the future we’ll do even better,” Kucera said.
These scrimmages were just practice for the main event. Two games versus Florida Institute of Technology were scheduled for this past weekend.
Unfortunately, tragedy befell FIT. Four people, two students, an aviation instructor, and another passenger were killed when a plane performing a routine training flight from FIT’s school of aviation crashed.
FIT held a memorial for the victims on Friday and the FIT hockey team wanted to stay on campus in support.
UT still traveled to Rockledge for the Saturday game though. After a moment of silence to honor the victims, the game began.
After falling one goal behind twice, UT scored five straight goals, unanswered until the final minutes of the final period. UT won 6-3.
“They’ve come a long way in a short period of time. They went down and were able to prevail. I was really proud of them,” Kucera said.
Other notes: a staggering 21 penalties were called in the game, 11 against UT and the FIT head coach was ejected for arguing with officials over one of his team’s calls.
Goal scorers for UT were Phil Gilchrist (2), Andy Koniuch, Ricky Duddy, Jimmy Westwood and Greg Mark. Benner and Duddy recorded two assists, and Gilchrist, Koniuch and Paul Zushma recorded one a piece.
With all that scoring, clearly the exercises to build chemistry worked.
“We gelled as a team better than we could have imagined. I’d say this is due to an incredible coach, and hard work put in by everyone.
“We have good talent now, and with the addition of new players in the future, we can only excel into next year,” Duddy said after the game.
Kopf echoed his teammate’s sentiments on the team’s chemistry.
“The boys came together on the bench and the chemistry was all there when we hit the ice. Normally on a hockey bench, there is tons of yelling and cursing.
“[On Saturday], however, there was a lot of laughter and smiling faces as we overcame our first obstacle in hopefully a long future for this ice hockey program,” he said.
After the team’s first game, Kopf feels confident moving forward.
“The group of guys that Coach Kucera has put together is a force that can’t be reckoned with. We are ready for whatever comes our way.”
April Weiner can be reached at april.weiner@spartans.ut.edu.
Great game boys. Good luck next semester, I’ll miss playing with you guys.
2nd line is where the dangls are at though!
the rest of the first line is phil gilchrist and cameron rowand..i dont know if its our first line at this point..we just were out to start the game..will see what happens..thank you to everyone who is following the team and reading about us- from the entire UT Ice Hockey Team
jimmy westwood – Gilchrist – Rowland
kopf – Leif Brenner
first line i believe
There first line is very good..they have 2 solid defensemen and the goaltender looked experienced..there 3rd and 4th line is not very deep but not bad for a first year team…what is the players names on the first line? have they played in any other leagues?