Mock News Profile

High Point's Ice Hockey Team looks 

to prevail after a rough season.

High Point University's Club Ice Hockey Team

Nick Blackman, a junior at High Point University, is a member of the new and very improved club division two ice hockey program.

He has been playing since he could remember, and especially with most of the students at the University coming down from the Northeast, you could see how the demand to play the sport would be very high.  After a rough second season last year, Nick and his team look to improve dramatically this year with superb talent coming into the program.

“It’s a new year and we’re a better team with a ton of new talent coming into this program.”  Blackman said in an interview Monday night.

The program started in 2012 with the school not sponsoring the team, many of the players went to the local rink in Greensboro and signed up in a Men’s League.  When word of this broke out, more and more students started going to the games and the school took notice.  The team’s first official season as a club team was the following year in the BRHC (Blue Ridge Hockey Conference) competing at the division three level.

 

“Our first game was a nightmare, I think we lost 6-2 or something like that, we had guys yelling at each other, just a total disaster for a first game.”  However, the team went on to win five of their next six games and advance to the playoffs in Charlottesville, V.A.  “It was an awesome experience, we had a great time from playing in the awesome arena they have, to just walking around the streets.”

The Panthers won the first game against VMI to advance to the Divisional Final where they would face the same team they played in their first game, Coastal Carolina.  “The game was electric, there were so many fans there, parents came down to even watch us play, probably the most fun game I’ve played in.”  The Panthers would prevail this time beating Coastal with a score of 3-2. 

“I mean we’re a first year program here and we just won the Divisional Championship, how would you be feeling?”  The Panthers would fall to JMU the next day in the Conference Championship, but it was an experience Blackman said that would last him a lifetime.

“We decided to move up a division to play division two, our first year was last year and it was pretty rough but we feel like we are making great strides in providing a winning season this year.”  Moving up a division not only increases competition, but also causes you to play in more games, and tournaments. 

Blackman predicts the team finishing with a 7-7 record, saying, “We’re still playing a lot of solid teams but now we know where we stand, how to compete at this level, and aren’t just staring at the bright lights as a first year team.”