MACKENZIE SMITH / CONTRIBUTOR

While other USD students are getting ready for bed, stuck in the library studying for midterms or spending a late night out on the town, USD’s Club Hockey players are just warming up for their late night practices and games. 

The  team  was originally formed in 2006 as  a  roller hockey  team.  It  wasn’t  until 2017 that they officially  transitioned  from  hardwood  floors to ice and joined the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). 

A  few years later, the COVID-19 pandemic  forced  them to go on a  hiatus. The team wasn’t re-established  until  2023  by  Peter Kilborn  ‘25,   John  Montgomery ‘24 and  Tristan Deetz ‘24.  The  team  has slowly grown ever since, and even re-entered the ACHA last year. After the hiatus, Toreros  had one goal: to just get on the ice and play.

The team played a previous game against LMU. Photo courtesy of @usdhockey/Instagram

Currently   the  team is small, and is  made  up of twelve Toreros. During games, they typically run two lines of forwards  and two  lines of defense with one goalie. 

Oftentimes, each player’s position   is   fluid,  depending on how many of their members they have at each game. A variety of skill levels are represented, including people who were on their varsity high school team, recreational players and even some who played semi-professionally.      

The team belongs to the West  Coast  Hockey  Conference and typically   plays   one  or  two  games a week, on Friday and Saturday nights. They begin anywhere from 4 p.m. to midnight, depending on when they have  ice time to play against teams in the LA region and south. Next semester, the club will also travel to play the University of Nevada, Reno to offer more diversity in competition. Their schedule also consists of mandatory practices every Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. and optional practices on Wednesdays. 

Being located in Southern California changes the culture surrounding hockey, and has been an adjustment for certain players on the team. USD senior David Candor shared his remarks.

“When I came to this school I wasn’t expecting I was going to play hockey.” 

In the U.S., hockey has a more impactful presence in the Northeast and the Midwest, being a  central  part  of tradition and community for many in those regions.

Candor  transferred to USD from Indiana, where the sport was more popular and much more competitive.He contrasted the difference between hockey culture in  Indiana and San Diego.

“Out there you were fighting for a spot to play hockey there rather than just joining a club,”  Candor said.

The lack of culture around the sport has made  it   difficult to  get ice time, find skilled hockey players and even get people to know  that  USD   has  a  hockey team. 

Lainey Bradley, a USD first-year who moved from the midwest to San Diego two years ago, commented on the lack of hockey culture. 

“Hockey    just   isn’t   a    thing   here,” Bradley    said. “I would never have expected us to have a team.” USD junior Micah Hemenway discussed the difficulty of finding ice time. 

“There’s only a few rinks in San Diego and they don’t have a lot of times so we’re playing super late,” Hemenway said. 

The team rotates between three rinks and are often under prioritized based on limited availability. Usually,  their   games are at the San Diego Ice Arena and practices at Poway or the UTC mall. 

Although the mall is the most convenient of the three, in both distance and schedule, it is almost always booked up. 

While the team has not won a game yet, their main focus is building skill level and optimizing their teamwork. 

Emmett Engle, a USD sophomore on the team, commented on how he thinks the team is progressing. 

“I  think   we   improved a lot from last year… We got a lot of new  kids   this  year  who  are  good, and I think we are definitely building up,” Engle said.

The team seems to be prioritizing  getting       better as a team and in building chemistry. Despite every challenge in environment, accessibility and numbers, the team shows up at each late night practice and game with an evident love for the sport. 

Hemenway shared his favorite part about the team.

“Just  showing  up  and  being  on the ice at any time,” 

Hemenway said. “Game or practice, just being  out  there  and  being  part of the team.”

The   team   plays a  home    game    against  UCSD   this  coming    weekend   before  heading to  LMU the  following weekend.

USD club hockey pictured playing during last year’s 2024 season. Photo courtesy of  @usdhockey/Instagram