The University of Cincinnati’s Club Hockey Team’s Journey to Division I Athletics

A 20-minute drive north of the University of Cincinnati’s campus, you’ll find Queen City Sportsplex — a massive facility featuring two ice rinks, six hardwood courts for basketball or volleyball, an inline rink that doubles as four additional volleyball courts, a hockey pro shop and, of course, a full-service bar. But, beyond the rinks, this off-campus arena is home to a collegiate hockey team — one that represents the University of Cincinnati proudly but isn’t fully recognized by the university itself.

The Fight for the C paw

Unlike the UC’s NCAA-sanctioned programs, the hockey team operates as a club sport, meaning it isn’t officially part of the athletic department. Yet, despite lacking a varsity status, these athletes commit to rigorous training, travel for games and compete against top club teams from around the country. With a packed schedule and a dedicated coaching staff, UC hockey mirrors the intensity of a D1 program — just without the same level of recognition or institutional support.

Head Coach Chris Crane leads the team alongside a group of assistant coaches, guiding a roster filled with talent from across the country. Competing in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), they face off against regional rivals and nationally ranked club programs. Their season runs from August to February, with home games bringing a dedicated fan base to Queen City Sportsplex.

“We get not nearly as much money from the schools as a traditional D1 sport would,” said Brad Brackston, defenseman and team treasurer. “So, we actually pay player fees. We are almost self-funded in that fact; we wouldn’t be able to operate as a club without it. It’s not ideal, but it makes for the fact that everyone here wants to be here; it almost builds a community being that everyone is here for a reason.”

While they may not play under the bright lights of Fifth Third Arena, the UC hockey team is every bit as committed to representing their school. However, being a club sport comes with challenges that varsity athletes and coaches never have to consider.

Player-run, player-focused

One of the things that separates a varsity sport from a club sport is that it is player-run. Players take on leadership roles as president, treasurer and more, handling everything from budgeting to logistics. They could even be found driving the vans full of players and staff to regionals. Being a semi-varsity sport at UC means that the club itself isn’t owned by any governing body, so they have much lighter restrictions than any NCAA athletic programs, but also much less funding and recognition.

“That’s the part about it being a semi-varsity sport is that we do manage it ourselves,” Brackston said. “It’s mostly just budgeting, putting in purchase requests for the school, getting everything approved. It’s push-pull — there are good things about it, but there are also the negative downsides.”

“I think people kind of perceive you as you don’t really take it seriously, and they think you are here to just mess around,” said Alex Perez, a forward and the team’s president. “But if you walk into one of our practices or in our locker room you know that we are serious from the get-go. It’s a hard-fought battle. You look at the teams we play in our division and it’s a war to get out of our division, let alone in the regionals.”

Living the dream

The team consists of over two dozen athletes who’ve dreamed of playing college hockey since childhood. When you fall in love with a sport, you dream of playing it throughout college and into the pros. This is the reality for number 24, senior Dylan Marks.

“He [Dylan Marks] wanted to play when he was probably 4 years old,” said Kelly Marks, Dylan’s mother. “It just evolved into, ‘I want to skate faster. I want to hit a puck. I want to play hockey,’ and it just kind of evolved into loving the sport.”

Team captain Nathan Sunderhaus had a similar experience growing up with hockey and getting the chance to play at a college level thanks to UC’s club hockey team.

“I went to my first hockey game when I was 5 and I fell in love with it from there,” Sunderhaus said. “Obviously, playing college level is a dream come true, and I love where I am at.”

The drive, the work, the commitment, the fans

Unlike most club sports at the collegiate level, UC’s club hockey team has a very large fan base, from parents, students, alumni and hockey fans across the Tri-State area. Just like every sport, the people in the stands matter — the fans, in general, matter more than they know. The arena at UC Ice Hockey games is rarely empty and, on most occasions, if you get up in between periods, your seat will get taken. Students bring cases of beer; experienced family members bring three blankets and bleacher chairs. And even the hallway is lined with fans watching through the windows that give the perfect view of the arena.

“We love when the fans come out,” said forward Spencer Dillard. “When we had senior night going on, we had a big crowd out there and everyone could feel it. Every hit, every shot, every face-off win. You could just feel it on the bench, everyone was just ready to go.”

“It’s a club sport, but you wouldn’t think that it was a club sport if you came to a game,” said Jeremiah Fowler, a UC student and lifelong hockey fan. “It is such a great atmosphere. Everybody comes; everybody cheers. It’s a packed crowd almost every game.”

“One Team, One Mission”

Just like any sports team, UC’s club ice hockey team runs on a mantra that focuses on the teamwork that carries them in everything they do. Some call it teamwork, but they also call it a brotherhood and a mission.

“It’s about being successful, and I think that’s what everybody in this room wants, so it kind of brings us together that we are all reaching that one goal,” said Perez. “It goes back to our mantra: ‘One Team, One Mission.’ And I think we all follow that. I learned something today that I think I want to bring to the team next year. It’s an acronym: ONE: ‘Only Need Everyone,’ and I kinda like that and I think it ties into what we want to be. We need everyone. We are all brought in on the same page and, you know, if not, it’s not going to work. We are all striving for one goal and all of us want to buy in.”

“We all love each other in here and, ultimately, I would take that over anything,” Crane said.

Up in numbers, up in divisions

A notable thing about UC’s club hockey team is its social media presence. With over 20,000 TikTok followers and 1.5 million likes, Emily Christy, director of player relations and a social media manager, has worked to take the team to the next level.

A new social media trend showing that most athletic teams don’t know the names of the people in their administrative staff took the internet by surprise recently. The trend entailed giving any players that know the social media director’s name a piece of candy. Christy and the UC ice hockey team took on the trend and attracted almost 1 million views. Viewers were shocked that the team knew Christy’s name and Christy was shocked that other teams didn’t know the names of the people who worked on their admin teams.

“It was really shocking and sad that the majority of the videos I was seeing were the guys not knowing the names, and it was so crazy to me because I knew for a fact that everybody on our team knows my name,” said Christy.

“I think that video, along with a few other of our videos that have gone viral, really show the good connection that I have with the players,” Christy continued. “We had another video last year go viral where I made friendship bracelets for everybody on the team, and it was because the reactions of the players were so genuine and sweet. I think that just shows like kind of family bond that’s built here on our team.”

The players, coaches and admin are all recognizing the importance of Christy and the social media growth that has changed the program for the better.

“Our team page has more followers than some of the varsity programs at the school, which is also kind of cool to say,” said Deepak Kullar, director of hockey operations and program alumni at UC.

Looking ahead

The University of Cincinnati’s club hockey team will be advancing from Division 2 to Division 1 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).

The team and staff pride themselves on the improvements that have been made throughout the years and the changes that will continue to come as they move up to Division I next year. Kullar says the move up is a big building step to the program, as, “ACHA Division I is only one step below NCAA, and there are teams in the NCAA that have previously lost to ACHA teams.”

“Even though we are technically a club sport, I think that we should be taken seriously,” Perez said. “So, if you have students or the athletic department to kind of push us, I think that will definitely help not only us but the school as a whole to bring in more kids with brighter futures and being able to have that braggadocious spiel to have the University of Cincinnati that ‘Next Lives Here.'”

“We don’t really care what the club title says,” said Kullar. “It’s what we do every day that makes us what we are.”

Watch a video about the team here.

[PHOTOS] An Inside Look at UC’s Club Ice Hockey Program

This article appears in Feb 19 – Mar 4, 2025.