The Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton ice hockey team made the announcement on the 11th. Instagram The plan is to add a Division III (D3) team in the 2024-2025 season.
According to the post, “The club has reported that a significant number of accomplished student-athletes have expressed interest in joining over the past few years. With an increasingly stable organizational structure, the club has found the right time to grow. I feel it has arrived.”
The club has a Division II team that is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation as a member of the AAU College Hockey League. They will compete in the College Hockey South (CHS) Conference, which includes the University of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, and others.
Division III would serve as a “complement” to the existing Division II program, allowing for two teams to exist under a club.
“The addition of a D3 team was talked about last year, but we have to be very careful with expansion and bite off more than we can chew,” said FAU Ice Hockey Club General Manager Scott Grosky. Ta. “We need a virtual army of supporters off the ice to run the program.”
The CHS conference also has a Division I division, which currently has five teams, and Grosky believes FAU could be the next school to join in the near future.
“There's a good chance we'll add a Division I team. We'll do everything the way they want. We'll play the right number of games and the players' uniforms will all match from helmets to socks. , we have enough players, but we need to build a solid foundation before we can move forward,” Grosky said.
The board decided to postpone the expansion until the team was approved to be a success for the school. While one of the main reasons for the delay was funding for the program, the addition of a D3 team will develop a group of young players over time to be formed and trained for a higher level of play. It will be.
“Athletes who start on a D3 team have a chance to excel in their matches and move up to D2,” Grosky said.
Forward Matthias Weir, who has played for the club for the past four years, is delighted to finally see the club expand due to the benefits it brings.
“I think it's a huge thing for the program. It elevates us, helps us recruit more and helps us develop as a Division II team for the next few years,” Weir said. “With the new team, we are able to accommodate more players than last year, where we had to cut just because there weren't spots on the ice.”
The Division II team's next game will be against Farmingdale State University on Jan. 12 at 8:30 p.m. The game will be played at the Panthers Ice Den.
Christiana Eckardt is a staff writer at University Press. For more information about this or any other article, please send an email to: [email protected] or @christianaeck_ on Instagram.
