From The University Star
By Jack Lysaght
It may come as a surprise to some, but yes, Texas State has a club hockey team, but to the players, coaches and volunteers, it is far more than just a club team.
Every Tuesday and Thursday night, the team gathers at the Northwoods Ice and Golf Center for the few chances they have for ice time. It’s located in a dimly lit parking lot in a nondescript shopping center in northwest San Antonio.
Practice starts at 10:30 at night. When most of the businesses in the area have already closed down, about two dozen young men show up, clad in street clothes with their oversized hockey bags. They will practice past midnight, learning plays, doing reps in drills and fine tuning their game.
The players bring their own padding, pay for their own jerseys and equipment, drive their own cars and prepare for their next scheduled game, all on their own dollar. If a stick, for example, gets broken during practice, it could cost as much as $400 for a replacement.
It might appear to be a lot of work for a club sport, but for those who are a part of Texas State hockey, it has become worth it.
It’s truly a family,”, social media coordinator and team photographer Miyoko McDonald, said. “Everyone involved with the team is seen as family. [The players] are a brotherhood, and even I am like their sister.”
Texas State resides in Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). As a member of the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference, the 2025 regular season includes opponents such as UT-Austin, Texas A&M and North Texas.
While opposing schools are in a somewhat close proximity, the degree of funding for the separate school club programs varies greatly.
“We pay a lot of money out of pocket to make this work. But it’s not a selfish thing, we do it for each other,” Jake Recore, sophomore forward and team president, said. “We each pay dues, and we raise money through finding sponsorships and scholarships. I actually put together a budget to ask the school for about $1,000, and they’d probably be shocked to see our budget for the year is close to $40,000.”
Club sports receive a limited amount of financial support from the university, leaving many associated with the team to fill in the gaps, from travel expenses to equipment upkeep and replacement. Part of the players’ dues go toward skate and equipment maintenance, travel and lodging costs and dues paid to the ACHA.
“We sharpen our own skates,” Nate Patek, sophomore defenseman and vice president, said. “We could pay the ice rink to sharpen them for us, but it saves us money to just do it ourselves.”
Head Coach Barry Cummins, who took over a few years ago when the team only had eight players, is trying to chart a path forward for the future of club men’s hockey in San Marcos.
“[Cummins] has put this all on his back, he’s carrying 30 guys on his back,” Recore said. “And his wife, she helps me a lot with the management side of the team. But Cummins can coach anyone up.”
Logistics pose another challenge to the team. Their home matches are currently 45 minutes away from campus in San Antonio. Periodically, some home games are played at the HEB Center in Cedar Park.
Road trips for away games involve hotels and travel expenses, in addition to preparing for the games themselves. In years past, the team would make road trips to schools outside the state of Texas without the help of the Athletic Department or its resources.
“We as players try to defray the costs along the way by finding local sponsors for the team,” Patek said.
Even facing such challenges, the team presses on and plays for each other, the school and their fans. Despite hockey’s status as a sport that is not as popular as others, like football or baseball in Texas, adversity builds character and forms bonds.
In the age of NIL and big money college sports, club sport teams can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. But Recore invites those interested in seeing compelling, exciting hockey to check out the team.
“It’s the best ice sport in the world, in and of itself. And there’s a real passion in these guys to play the game and win,” Recore said. “We have a fire in our bellies, we saw [the University of Texas] go to nationals last season, and we were right there. We play to win.”
(Originally published at https://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/the-st-james-george-washington-revolutionaries)
