From HNIB News
By Gary Demopoulos
The opportunities for players looking into playing collegiate hockey at the club level continue to grow, and it is a viable option for many. To date, there are now 461 programs playing in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, broken down into Division 1, 2 and 3 programs.
Jack Hyman knows the journey well. Hyman played four years of varsity hockey at North Andover (MA) High School, and then took a post-graduate year at Proctor Academy. After graduating from Proctor, Hyman matriculated to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, playing Division 2 club hockey while working his way to a business degree.
If the NCAA option doesn’t work out for a player, there are many, many club programs, with a good many of them at large Division 1 universities across the country.
“This allows a player to find the perfect fit for their college experience in three main areas: school, hockey and location,” Hyman said. “As much as we all love hockey, we must understand that after hockey (NCAA Division 1 aside) our playing days are essentially over. So, it’s important to pick the school that has the right academics to set you up for your career that you want. Every ACHA program is unique and the vast number of options out there allows a player to pick the perfect fit for him or her.”
While at LMA, Hyman captained the team for both his junior and senior years, and shortly after graduation, returned to the program as an assistant coach. He then spent four years as head coach before embarking on a new challenge: head coach at Division 1 University of Oregon.
Like many, Hyman believes that there more than enough talented players than there are NCAA Division 3 programs, and he wants to raise awareness on how good an experience it is playing ACHA hockey.
“Many of those programs are at big schools, which offer the best of everything,” Hyman said. “The facilities are beautiful. Players take it seriously. It is a great experience and there is a National Tournament to play for. You can go to school where you might want to live after you graduate. At Oregon, we schedule our home games around the football games. There are so many great players out there and they all want to play college hockey. If they aren’t recruited to play NCAA D3, they can go to a school that has ACHA hockey. If you look at the rosters of some of the top teams at the ACHA D1 level, they have 20-21 year old freshmen.
“I also think with the explosion of social media and the emergence of some ACHA specific accounts, many players are seeing great things ACHA programs are doing both on and off the ice.”
Many ACHA programs are student-led, as is Hyman’s University of Oregon squad, and the players are very passionate and care about their team. Players pay dues and the team has several local sponsors.
If a player is interested in taking the ACHA route, he/she can go to the ACHA website (www.achahockey.org) which features a map with the location of all ACHA programs and coach’s contact information.
As far as Hyman’s Oregon program goes, he couldn’t be more excited to build the Ducks into a top Division 1 ACHA program. The team’s home rink is right next to campus, and the team gets a couple of thousand fans at each home game. Oregon is an Independent, allowing Hyman to schedule new and different opponents.
This season alone, Oregon has or will be travelling to Iowa, New Jersey, Michigan and California for games. Next season, trips are planned to Alabama, St. Louis and Ohio as well.
“The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place to live, and Eugene is a small town where everyone is a Ducks fan,” Hyman said. “We have the best public golf courses in the world, and the beach and skiing are just two hours away. Our academics are great with one of the best Sports Business courses in the country. And experiencing a football game at the University of Oregon is unlike anything else.”
The team stands 5-7 overall heading into the holiday break.
“I came here specifically for this job,” Hyman said. “Everything is still brand new to me and I am learning all the ins and outs, but we are travelling in the right direction. The sky’s the limit here.”
(Originally published at https://www.hnibnews.com/acha-programs-like-the-university-of-oregon-are-solid-options-for-players-looking-to-play-at-the-collegiate-level/)
