Panthers on ice
Photo by Cody Shevelson, Sports Reporter
In a county with barely a month of rainy days per year and an average temperature of 70 degrees, being in a cold environment isn’t something the average Chapman student is used to. But for a solemn few, the time they get to spend out on the ice each week is a sanctuary they simply can’t find anywhere else.
The Chapman Ice Hockey team last took to the rink in the 2022-23 season where they competed in Division II of the American College Hockey Association (ACHA).
Years prior to that, in 2016, the Chapman Men's Ice Hockey Club made it all the way to the California Collegiate Hockey League (CCHL) championship, overpowering the University of California, Santa Barbara in a 5-0 shutout. The Panthers ended the 2016 season 7-3 overall, winning their first ever cup.
Without enough players to dress a full team for the 2023-24 season, they had to bow out of competition, hoping that more hockey players would make their way to Chapman in the future.
But then, animation and visual effects major Samantha Jones transferred from California State University, Fullerton for her sophomore year. She got the band back together again.
First learning to ice skate at 16 years old, Jones would go with her friends every weekend to the rink, grab food with them and hang out. After some trial and error, she eventually fell in love with skating and began questioning if it was too late for her to try and play ice hockey.
She told The Panther about her experience last year playing at the club AA level for the first time with the Women's 19U Lady Ducks, and how it sparked her interest in reigniting the team here at Chapman.
Getting the team up and running again hasn’t all been smooth sailing. When she first asked Chapman’s risk management department about having the team be associated with the school, her request was denied. And although she doesn’t have an official answer as to why, she has an idea.
“I believe the financials are a really big deal,” Jones said. “I believe it’s so hard and physical that it causes a lot of injuries, which would in turn have liability on the university, something that they would have to handle. I’m not totally sure what other issues they had with the team prior, so that could’ve been a part of it as well.”
Although the university declined to be officially affiliated with the team, they said they had no problem with them doing it on the side, just as long as Chapman wouldn’t be liable for anything that happens on or off the ice.
“The few struggles we had, originally was getting recognition from the school because they do the scheduling plan. And if you get recognition through the school you can compete for the ACHA which also helps with all your scheduling and rink dues so you’ll pay a season fee but you won’t pay all these individual fees, which we now have to pay,” Jones said.
She continued: “We have to pay individual fees for refs, medic teams, scorekeepers and ice time… Originally the athletic director would handle those smaller payments, so that's a bit of a downside for us, having to pay each of the little things.”
She was quick to point out the positive aspects of not being affiliated with Chapman, however.
“I’d say a benefit is that we get to have people who are not from Chapman playing with us,” Jones said. “Because we are completely independent of college athletes we can bring in anybody, and one of the reasons why it ended here (at Chapman) is because they couldn’t find enough people. It’s great to give opportunities to college athletes who maybe haven’t entered a four-year (college) yet, or who are at a four-year and don’t have hockey, so they get to play too.”
Although on the management side of things it may seem like she has her hands full, Jones credited senior co-captains, business administration major Emmitt Sherer and psychology major Cooper Barnett, as well as the rest of her incredible team, for making the load on her back as light as possible.
Jones praised their volunteer head coach, retired Chapman art professor Alejandro Sanchez, for being a consistent figure for everyone on the team, calling him a “great guy”.
This year, the team will be competing in the West Coast Hockey Conference (WCHC), a member conference of the larger ACHA. But because they’re not recognized by Chapman as an official team, they won’t be able to compete for the championship cup at the end of their 12 game season.
“We’re technically not part of a league because we’re so independent,” Jones said. “So we won’t be able to compete in things like the tournament, but when these other teams play us it counts towards their points.”
Although they won’t be able to compete for a championship, players on the team, like sophomore business administration major Evan Vallaincourt, don’t care. He just wants to be out there on the ice playing the game he loves.
Skating since three years old and playing hockey since five, Vaillancourt grew up on the ice.
When asked how he heard about the ice hockey team starting back up again, Vaillancourt credited Jones’s persistence with both the school and different players on campus in getting enough members to roster a team.
“Samantha Jones this year was leading an effort to bring the club team back, which was sick,” he said. “So we got a roster together … almost entirely thanks to her, and although we’re not an actual club team this year, we’re all Chapman students playing against other schools, so it’s essentially a club team — just not in recognition.”
Vaillancourt went from playing hockey almost every day at Holderness Prep School in Plymouth, New Hampshire, to barely at all in Orange County. But after his internship experience at Bauer — one of the world's leading brands in hockey gear and products — the summer following his freshman year, his love for the game was rekindled, leading him to find that outlet once again.
“It’s sick, I just love hockey,” he said. “Playing hockey every Wednesday morning as (a Bauer) employee just reignited my love for the game, because I hadn't played it for a year. Then I just happened to get a text like, ‘Hey the teams coming back this year,’ so yeah, it’s been awesome. I love it.”
And, finally, for the first time in over two years, Chapman Hockey hit the ice for a game this past Friday. Without any official affiliation with the school. With no strong financial backing. And with no hopes of winning a trophy, they faced off in their home opener at Great Park Ice in Irvine against Loyola Marymount University.
Although the rink was icy, the atmosphere and fans were on fire, supporting their Panthers loudly and proudly until the final buzzer. Ending with a score of LMU, 6, Chapman, 2.
As of now, because the team is not officially recognized by the school, funding is a bigger issue than ever. With ice time costing upwards of $500 an hour, the team can only practice once a week on Wednesdays at KHS Ice from 9:45 to 10:45 p.m. The team has set up a GoFundMe to cover some of the costs.
Despite the challenges of the ongoing season, the Panthers pay no mind, hitting the ice and proving their passion outweighs everything standing in their way.