USF Ice Bulls Seek Donations For ACHA National Championship Appearance

TAMPA, FL – The USF Ice Bulls men’s hockey team earned a berth in the ACHA Men’s Division 3 National Championships, but they need a bit of help to get the whole team to Columbus, Ohio.

The team started a Go Fund Me campaign in order to help defray the costs of traveling to the tournament, which will take place March 14-18.

Click here to visit the USF Ice Bulls Go Fund Me campaign.

The American Collegiate Hockey Association was formed in 1991 as an impartial governing body for intercollegiate club teams to monitor national tournaments, player eligibility and general oversight. Since 1999, all ACHA teams are members of USA Hockey and the American Hockey Coaches Association.

Sean Brosnan, the Ice Bulls’ team manager, said while the NCAA’s college hockey is akin to the National Hockey League, the ACHA would be the American Hockey League.

“Players that aren’t good enough to play NCAA hockey or don’t want to can continue to play competitive collegiate hockey in the ACHA,” he said. “Another huge difference is most ACHA teams aren’t supported by athletic departments but by Student Governments. In the NCAA, all the teams are supported by an athletic department.”

The Ice Bulls, which began in 1989, is funded in part by the school’s Student Government. However, this funding does not fully cover the team’s costs and players make up the difference, Brosnan said.

“Our primary costs are ice time for practice and games, and travel costs,” he said. “We play a very competitive schedule so we typically travel to another region once a season to play top teams in other regions. This season we went to Michigan; last season we went to Colorado.”

While the team still will travel to Columbus even if the Go Fund Me campaign isn’t successful, Brosnan said. However, in that case, some players may not be able to afford to go with the team.

“Our hope with the Go Fund Me is to lessen the burden on our players, who have already paid more than a thousand dollars this season,” he said. “This trip will cost us approximately $750 per player and the lower we get that price the better. If a player can’t afford to make the trip we won’t have a way to get them there, which could be detrimental to our performance at Nationals.”

As part of the team’s Go Fund Me campaign, the Ice Bulls also have posted a survey in order to gauge the public’s interest in purchasing USF hockey jerseys, which the team is seeking permission for from the university.

This is the third time USF has advanced to the ACHA National Championships. The other two times were during the 1995-96 season and the 2000-01 season.

This year’s squad reached Nationals the hard way, first by starting out the year 1-10. Then, the Ice Bulls came charging back by going 11-8-1 down the stretch, including an upset win over the South Region’s No. 1 team, Florida Gulf Coast University.

The team followed up its regular season stretch run with two more upset wins in the South Regional Tournament, which the Ice Bulls hosted at the new Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel on Feb. 24-25.

The tournament’s eighth seed, USF outlasted fifth seed South Carolina with a 1-0 overtime victory. Freshman goalie Sam Coleman picked up the shutout victory while senior Steven DeMarco scored the overtime winner. The Ice Bulls followed up with a 6-3 victory over Liberty University to advance to the finals.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players, especially for our seven graduating seniors,” Brosnan said. “We have a chance not only to prove the South is good at hockey, but that USF is a hockey school and Tampa is a hockey town. We will be ambassadors for the whole South region, the Tampa Bay area and for USF.”

For more information, visit http://icebulls.pointstreaksites.com/view/icebulls/home-page-1054.

Image and video courtesy of the USF Ice Bulls YouTube channel