Hockey has become a big sport in Raleigh, especially with the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup last season. The N.C. State club hockey team has also been having success, though not winning a championship.
The team is highly-ranked, having started off this season 5-0 with wins against Appalachian State (twice), the University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Over recent years, the team has seen its competitive drive increase, playing mostly teams from up North that are NCAA Division I teams.
Nick Olson, a senior in biomedical engineering and president and captain of the ‘A’ team, said the club has a long history, but that it has improved in recent years.
“Well, I know it’s been going on for a while, since the ’70s. But it kind of jump-started when our recent coach [Mike Young] got here, the last 10 or 12 years,” Olson said. “He kind of started it as…an actual structured program and helped put it all together. The one we have kind of known is about 12 years old.”
“Recently we used to just pull guys from in around State but now they are kind of recruiting from out of state …. we are starting to branch out and get a little bigger. It’s really gone up in the last years because coach has been there and has gotten it to where it is now,” Olson said. “We’re pretty good when it comes to the South, when it comes to our division and stuff.”
Although the team has seen some success, the club is not an NCAA Division I program. It is actually listed as a club sport, and because of this it receives limited funding and mostly does transportation and scheduling duties on its own. This includes an $80,000-a-year budget, according to Olson.
Unlike some sports on State’s campus, the team is also dealing with junior hockey leagues and Canadian leagues. Olson said much of the competition in the sport in colleges is driven by players from Canada and Europe.
“You have kids that you are competing with in Canada in junior leagues, which are like semi-pro. A lot of kids from juniors go straight to the pros,” Olson said. “You have a lot of kids from Europe who are competing for scholarships, too.”
Meanwhile, the Wolfpack actually has three teams: an A, B and Women’s team. This helps with competition and national ranking.
“To get more competitive and go up in the rankings, there are not a lot of teams around here that we can play — like we play UNC, and we just really beat them badly,” Olson said. “We go up North most of the time.”
The club does not receive as much help from the school as NCAA sports do. The Pack could move to Division I play, but that would require more credit hours and more structure when it comes to academics. Olson said the team has the talent to compete, but that a lot is required from the NCAA.
“You’re required to take more credit hours, and it’s more structured when it comes to academics that you have to follow. That’s why we didn’t go,” Olson said. “We’ve consistently beat those teams. We are D-I talent, but there is a lot more that goes with it.
With being both the president of the hockey team and captain of the ‘A’ team, Olson has plenty of administrative duties that for a D-I team would be left to people who handle the selling of merchandise, scheduling and management full-time.
Despite the long hours and hard work, Olson said he is excited about the team’s goals for the season.
“[We want to] just do better than we did last year. We’re back in the ACC, so we would like to win the ACC season and win the championship. Ultimately we’re a nationally competitive team. We would like to go to nationals, which we have never done before,” Olson said.
“We think we can do that this year, maybe not win nationals because there are a lot of good teams out there. But we would like to make an appearance and get our name out.”
