During the 2024-25 College Hockey South (CHS) Division III conference tournament, the USF men’s ice hockey club fell just one win short of taking home its first conference championship since 2019.
Those bitter feelings carried over to this year’s tournament, where they were seeded as the No. 2 team in the conference after a strong regular season.
This time, the storybook ending did happen — the Ice Bulls beat their arch-rivals, the University of Tampa Spartans, in the finals to crown themselves as conference champions.
For most sports teams, amateur or professional, becoming a conference champion is a remarkable achievement that not all athletes can boast about.
But for this team, when you consider the situation it’s in, it’s even more special.
As a club team, it receives little funding from the university, with players having to pay out of pocket for equipment, travel, stay and ice time.
Club president, starting defenseman Jackson Keller, explained that the club receives some funding from the school, though it represents only a small percentage of what they need.
“There’s an allocated budget that we send in of all the expenses we've had throughout the year and everything we anticipate for next year, which is usually based off this year, and they give us a tentative allotment,” he said. “This year, our budget was about $150,000, and the school was only able to give us like $10,000.”
Money is not the only concern for the players. Time, or more accurately, the lack of it, also plays a part in their daily lives.
Student-athletes are usually the first ones in a university's registration line. They get to pick classes that best fit their schedule, and professors are generally lenient about late work and excused absences.
For club athletes, it’s a whole other story.
Because they’re not classified as student-athletes with the school, they don’t get the same privileges in the classroom.
That means professors are generally less permissive, and players have to plan their schedules carefully and find a balance between school and hockey.
But that’s easier said than done most of the time.
There isn’t a hockey arena on campus, so players have to travel more than 20 minutes to practice at a public ice rink in Wesley Chapel.
In order to get the ice to themselves, they usually practice at either 6:30 a.m. or 10:30 p.m., adding early mornings and late nights to an already busy schedule.
Starting goaltender Ryan Koch said it all comes down to managing the time they have as best as they can.
“Everyone’s played hockey for a few years now, so everyone knows how to balance our work-life schedule — just got to make time,” he said. “Coach (Joseph Rhoads) says school is more important; we have a lot more time at school than we do on the ice. So I think he doesn’t take any excuses for no homework done.”
Despite the challenges, the team keeps on going.
Their passion for the sport is enough to keep them coming back to the rink, even when it means sacrificing sleep, money and free time.
So far, those sacrifices have paid off with the CHS Conference title.
But for players like starting right winger Grant Dietz, the Conference Player of the Year for back-to-back seasons, it means so much more than just trophies.
“It's really all about the group of guys that you’re with,” he said. “You talk to guys who graduated, and the number one thing that they all say is just how much they miss it. If I were injured for the rest of my career, I’d do anything I could to be around the club in some way, shape or form. That's how great of a group it is.”
For some, just getting to play the sport is already a blessing in itself.
“Not everyone has a chance to play at the Division I level, and people love their sport no matter what,” Koch said. “Sometimes people think you’re done after high school, and they can't make it in college. It's just good to continue playing the sport you love.”
And for others, it’s about representing their school any way they can.
“Coming to USF and still having the opportunity to play competitive hockey and represent a bigger school was really cool,” Keller said. “At the end of the day, club hockey is still college hockey.”
After their conference title, the team will travel to St. Louis to play in the American College Hockey Association (ACHA) Division III National Championship tournament.
First up in pool play, the #4 ranked Ice Bulls will meet with a familiar foe — the University of Tampa Spartans, at 6:15 p.m. on March 18.
Then, they have games against the Wentworth Institute of Technology on March 19, and the U.S. Air Force Academy on March 20. If they win their pool, they'll head to the semi-finals March 21, with the national championship on March 22.
For Koch, the team is ready to go.
“This is a great team,” he said. “Last year, we lost nationals, and we’re just trying to come back to show we’re a stronger team this year.”
Support for the Ice Bulls comes mostly from fundraisers.
The team currently has a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for its trip to the national championship, and, as of publication, is about $1,000 short of hitting its $6,500 goal.
For a team that almost entirely funds itself and practices whenever it can, the opportunity to make it this far is already a victory.
But the program's first national championship would be the perfect ending for this Ice Bulls' team.
