DU has always been a hockey school, but while the D1 men’s team receives most of the spotlight, the little-known women’s club hockey team is beginning to grow.
According to the New York Times, club sports have been rapidly growing and expanding in the past decade, and that is no different at DU.
The team has gone from only competing against the University of Colorado and Colorado College to traveling to the midwest to compete against the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin and Midland University.
Up until recently, the team has not always been particularly competitive. Great strides have been made in the past few seasons. For example, just last year the team moved up to the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), which is essentially D1 for college club hockey.
2015 was the team’s first season in the ACHA. After a tough season, they were notified a week before Regionals that they qualified. Regionals were in Wisconsin and due to the lack of funding, the team was unable to compete.
This season, practices began immediately for the team at the start of fall quarter. The first game of the season was only two weeks after the first day of classes. The schedule of classes puts the team at a bit of a disadvantage because of the shorter amount of time to prepare. The team competed against CU and CSU in the fall and was swept by both teams.
On the weekend of Jan. 23, the Pioneers traveled to Minnesota to compete against the University of Minnesota, Midland University and the University of Wisconsin. The team lost to Minnesota and Wisconsin, but defeated Midland 3-2. While in Minnesota, the team was able to meet Jason Zucker, left wing for the Minnesota Wild and DU alum.
DU needed to beat Wisconsin to make the regional tournament, so their season will not be entering the post-season.
However, DU has one game remaining scheduled for March 4 at Colorado State University’s home rink in Fort Collins.
The good news is that the team has been expanding; it now has 15 students, which is the most to date.
Two of this year’s players are a tad older than the rest; Jurky Jurkovich is a 41-year-old graduate student that just joined the team this season. Emily Clark is a 31-year old PhD student pursuing a doctorate in sports psychology.
The rest of the team is made up of mostly undergraduate students, which is more typical for club sports.
“We call ourselves our own sorority. We do everything together, like team dinners and just hanging out in our free time. We’re very close and we even all still talk to the girls that graduated and they will still visit us sometimes,” said junior co-president and center forward, Marissa Lambert (Crested Butte, Colorado).
Despite the season being over for all intents and purposes, the team will still be hard at work for the remainder of the school year.
“The turnout will not be as strong, but we will still practice. We come to DU for academics. We don’t come here for hockey. The fact that we can get 15 girls that love the sport and play is great,” said Lambert.
Practices are typically Monday and Wednesday from 10:30 p.m. to midnight in Magness Arena.
For more information about the team or joining, visit women’s club hockey’s website or Facebook page.
