UF Ice Hockey Club

We are the Florida Gators Ice Hockey Club, an organization that is run by the student athletes of the team.  We receive very little funding from the University,(about $10,000) especially when you consider what the NCAA sports receive. We normally operate on around a $40,000 budget which is barely enough to cover the costs of a hockey season. It is up to the players and their families to cover the remaining $30,000. We practice and play home games in Jacksonville which is over 90 minutes away from our homes and the University. We are responsible for our own trasportation to and from practice and home games. We are limited to just ONE practice per week because of the cost of ice time. This also gives us a limit in the amount of games we can afford to play. While you may imagine a group the size of a hockey team would take a charter bus to away games and staying in nice hotels, we are forced to rent mini vans and cram as many players in as few vans as possible, and we must stay in cheap motels, sleeping 4 players to a room, to help minimize costs. 

We are not just hockey players, we are college students. Most NCAA sport programs have tutors for their students to help with the time commitment of playing a sport. We unfortunately do not have that luxury. Despite this and many of the players having rigourous majors, including pre-med, accounting, and engineering, 20 players made the SEC Hockey Conference All Academic Team, one of the most in the SECHC, by maintaining a 3.2GPA or higher. As mentioned already, we are a completely student run team. With the exception of the coaching staff, every leadership position, including President, VP, Treasurer, and Secretary are held by members of the team, in addition to their responsibilities on the ice and in the classroom.

Lastly, last season we qualified for Nationals, but were unable to attend due to the financial burden.  Looking forward to this season, the team looks to be even more promising.  If we can raise enough money to be able to make the trip to Nationals, that will not only help our team greatly, but would also be a great thing for the school and Gator fans everywhere.

We are looking to the Gator Nation and the hockey community as a whole to help our program and the players coming through it to grow and prosper. Any amount is appreciated as we look to continue and improve our success both on and off the ice.
Go Gators!