The Loyola Wolfpack hockey club may be young, but it is growing fast and picking up steam as one of the more popular athletic programs on campus this year.
Economics senior Frederick Dewey spontaneously decided to start up the program last year, along with Ryan Cullen, A ‘08, and Bryan Lavoie, biology senior. Dewey, a native of Detroit, said that his passion for the sport coupled with the utter lack of hockey exposure in the New Orleans area prompted him to create a team.
“I’ve played hockey my whole life, and I missed hockey being down in New Orleans where it isn’t really available, so me and some of my friends that all played hockey got together and started it up,” Dewey said.
Last year was the de facto inaugural season for Loyola hockey, and Dewey said, all things considered, things went relatively smoothly.
“Everything last year went good,” Dewey said. “We developed a good solid basis to start the program. It takes a lot of dedication on the part of the players because the closest arena is an hour away, so we have to meet up on time and make the trek out to Baton Rouge.”
The team practices at Leo’s Ice Land on Airline Drive in Baton Rouge, La., every Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. All of the players usually gather up at the University Sports Complex around 7:30 p.m. and cram all of their equipment into a large van before heading out for practice.
On Oct. 17 and 18 of this semester, the Wolfpack hockey team will take part in what has been dubbed the Loyola Cup Tournament in Wilmette, Ill., which also involves the hockey clubs from Loyola Marymount and Loyola Chicago. It will be a round-robin tournament, hosted by Loyola Chicago, at the Wilmette Centennial Arena. The winner of the tournament takes home the Loyola Cup, as well as all of the bragging rights at stake.
“It’s a great concept,” team treasurer and international business senior Brian Balch said. “Who can be the superior Loyola? It’s all about pride. It’s a very good rivalry between Jesuit schools, and we’re still going to respect each other, but at the same time you can expect fierce competition.”
Dewey and Balch have already begun to scout their upcoming opponents. “We’ve watched some videos; they look pretty good. It’s going to be a challenge, but we feel like we can hold our own,” Dewey said.
On top of the Loyola Cup, next month the team has another tournament with Tulane University and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where the three schools practice. Afterwards, the Wolfpack will be going to Mississippi State University in November, and will have two games against the Bulldogs at Mississippi Coast Coliseum Arena in Biloxi, Miss., where the professional Mississippi Seawolves play their home games.
Though it is such a young and developing program, Dewey, last season’s player-coach, sees a bright future for the team.” We’ve got a bunch of new players out this year. We got some new talent this year. I’d say we’ve improved considerably. We’ve added a lot of depth throughout our roster,” Dewey said.
Dan Pitta can be reached at [email protected].
