The FAU Hockey Club is scheduled to begin its season on Sept. 17 against Florida State University. This will be their first season as part of the College Hockey Federation (CHF). Previously, they were part of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and moved to the CHF with the other SouthEastern Collegiate Hockey Conference (SECHC) teams.

The last time the Hockey Club played was a 5-4 overtime loss against the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in the 2020 regional tournament. 

The Hockey Club has been a part of FAU since 2002 and they have reached the regional tournament at least four times and the national tournament twice according to fifth-year General Manager Gary Kaufman. The club reached the national tournament in 2005 and 2011.

“For the past five years with the current group of players winning percentages have gone up, goal differentials have gone up, and the level of talent has gone up,” Kaufman said.

Due to an influx of talent heading into this season, the club has had to cut players that were previously with the team in order to get the roster down to 25 players. This season, 13 players will be new to the team, and only two or three players remain from the 2017 roster.

The club will have its own semi-professional-style locker room for the first time this upcoming season. 

The Owls’ head coach will be Vincent Morris, and he will have three assistant coaches, a goaltending coach, and a trainer. Assistants Erik Kirtman and Aaron Burri both played for the club when they were students at FAU. Kirtman played from 2002-2005 and Burri graduated in 2017. 

Kaufman is also confident that the club will make the regional tournament in Nashville at the end of the season in March. 

FAU plays its home games at the Panthers’ Ice Den in Coral Springs about 25 minutes south of the Boca Raton campus and admission for students is free. 

The SECHC regional tournament will start on Friday, Feb. 18 in Nashville. The CHF national tournament for the Federation Cup will start on Friday, March 18 in Westchester, PA.

Bryce Totz is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected], or tweet him @brycetotz.