From The Red & Black
By Sutton Stoft
As the Ice Dawgs get ready to hit the rink for the upcoming season, the team’s fresh roster and dedicated leaders have eyes on a new goal: building a stronger brand.
This season, the Ice Dawgs are partnering with Ghost Brands to unveil “Built Beneath Athens,” an initiative meant to create more enthusiasm around the team. The project will focus on the impact Georgia’s club hockey program has on the Athens community as a whole.
“There’s so many students I’ve run into that didn’t even know we had a hockey team because it got lost with us not being in town and being road warriors for three years, and then with COVID,” head coach John Camp said. “I hope people can come out and actually see the quality of the team, because the team today versus the team I inherited 10 years ago, it’s not even close.”
Hockey may not be the first sport that naturally comes to mind in Athens. However, the Ice Dawgs take pride in being the foundation for the local hockey community, serving as the catalyst for other hockey teams in the city, including the Lady Ice Dawgs and the Athens Rock Lobsters.
Camp believes the latter team wouldn’t have ended up in Athens if it wasn’t for the Ice Dawgs.
“UGA hockey started to really prove there was a fan base here that tied into the politicking to even build the arena, so built from beneath Athens really kind of parlays,” he said.
One of the priorities for Camp is to ensure the athletes are learning more than just hockey and know how to implement their team skills into the real world. His emphasis on staying grounded throughout the hardships is something he reiterates on the rink.
“Sometimes you gain the most respect by being balanced,” Camp said. “If you have to kick somebody in the backside, they know they deserve it because you’ve also been there to give them a good pat on the back.”
To help get his message across, Camp is leaning on sophomore captain Zachary Noll to make sure the team stays focused on upholding its positive culture.
“It’s just [about] making the right option,” Noll said. “I think if you can instill that as a leader and older kid on the team who has more experience in this position, hopefully the kids will see and follow that, and see this is the way you should be acting.”
Noll saw the need for strong leaders on the team after the Ice Dawgs’ trip to San Diego for a preseason team-building retreat. For two days, coaches and players worked with Navy SEALs to complete various trust exercises and mental strength challenges.
“It was a really honestly physically-taxing workout, but also as you’re getting really tired, you get mentally tired as well,” Noll said. “So that leads to a lot of kids making mistakes, mental mistakes, and little things like that. [You have to] make sure you keep your teammates with you and don’t let them fall behind.”
The team’s key takeaway from the field trip was the need to approach challenges as a united front. Camp noticed after just two days in a foreign environment, the team developed a familial bond, and were motivated to branch out and talk to new teammates.
Noll recognized the importance of having a close bond with his teammates.
“I think there’s been a culture within our team to really be supportive and help one another, [like] older guys this year helping younger kids in the mentoring aspect,” Noll said. “You can ask literally anyone on the hockey team any question you need, because everyone just wants to help you.”
Good character has always been the underlining motto of the Ice Dawgs. The team has won the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Community Service Award twice, and Camp instills in his team the need for giving back to support the greater Athens community.
The team supports many different organizations, including Pink in the Rink, Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer, St. Mary’s Hospital and the Memorial Health Dwaine & Cynthia Willett Children’s Hospital of Savannah.
“Last year, they were playing table hockey with a young girl, and I’m videotaping and crying at the same time,” Camp said. “And I’m seeing parents that are all disheveled that have been living on a sleeper sofa for six months, and they don’t care. They’re just so happy our guys are making their child happy.”
Keeping the program focused on volunteering allows the Ice Dawgs to shine in ways greater than their accomplishments on the ice.
“It reflects on me what great young men we have and how proud I am of them,” Camp said.
The team’s first opportunity to showcase its new brand to an Athens crowd will be Sept. 27 at Akins Ford Arena, when the Ice Dawgs take on Minnesota in their home opener.
(Originally published at https://www.redandblack.com/sports/ice-dawgs-looking-to-further-growth-of-athens-hockey-as-new-season-begins/article_e0c351c7-193c-42f3-b1c8-2afc93717c05.html)
