Hockey Club season wrap up
Krystle Holleman & Andrew Fergerson
Issue date: 3/1/10 Section: Sports
We’ve all been in that boring class where we just can’t stay awake and attentive. We daydream about the up-coming weekend, watch the second hand glide across the face of the tiny clock in the lecture hall, and people-watch the students in front of us – maybe even look over their shoulder at their laptop screen.
It’s a common part of the college experience.
But for one former University of Michigan-Flint student, his daydreams were just a little different and helped prospective students look at UM-Flint as their university of choice to further both their education and athletic hopes.
When Tom Garavaglia was in class, he thought about hockey. Having started playing ice hockey when he was in the sixth grade, Garavaglia started playing hockey somewhat late by most standards.
“I begged my mom to let me play,” Garavaglia said. “She finally gave in when I was in the sixth grade. I haven’t stopped since.”
Garavaglia literally got the idea while talking with former teammates in class.
“I was just sitting in one of my classes one day and I was talking to some friends of mine who I used to play with and we were just talking about the old days when we used play hockey and I just said, ‘You know what? I’m going to start a team,’” Garavaglia said.
It didn’t take long for him to get the ball rolling.
“Literally that day I was sitting in class and I started sending emails out to ACHA, and also to Perani Arena and some of the universities to see what needed to be done to start something and it took off from there.”
Garavaglia did quick research in order to start the team.
“I talked to the club team out of Ann Arbor to see what they had done, especially when it came to a budget and based a little bit of my budget on theirs,” Garavaglia said, “but for the most part it was a one of a kind thing.”
Garavaglia had high hopes for what a hockey team would bring to the campus community.
“I wanted something that the whole University could get behind. At the time, there wasn’t anything on campus for the students to go and root for to make it seem like a college campus.
“I just wanted to make it feel like something that people could belong to. I thought the University could grow as a whole,” Garavaglia said.
The first two years were tough for the team, as is expected with any up-start team.
“We wrote our goals down before the start of our first season,” center Joe Berry, who has been with the team since its inception, said. “Some people said be a .500 team, some said playoffs. I wrote down win a game. So when we finally did, we had a load off our back.”
The second season was an improvement from the first. “We were actually in the games,” Berry said.
“Obviously the first year was a pretty rough one. The second one was also pretty rough but definitely an improvement over the first,” Garavaglia said.
However, the third season was a complete turn around from the previous two.
“This season was a huge step forward,” Coach Bill Golling said. “We have five players from our first year so it’s rewarding for them to see a good season.”
“This season built on their confidence,” Golling said. “They didn’t necessarily have that the first two years.”
Assistant Coach Don Edwards said, “They developed a mindset to compete.”
“This year we were able to bring in some great guys and build on a foundation we’ve already established,” Garavaglia said. “We’ve taken off pretty well. Before, there was never any kind of talk of us being ranked nationally.”
The biggest problem the team has faced? Financing.
Fundraising for the team has been difficult this year. “Our goal for the offseason is to organize a lot of fundraisers,” Berry said. “Hockey’s an expensive sport. We’d hate to get the team to this point and run it into the ground financially.”
After such a successful season, how does the team plan on improving the club? “We plan on having a team meeting very soon,” defenseman Aaron Rihacek said. “We’re going to try to set up some fundraising programs, like a team golf outing.”
Now that the team has wrapped up their third season on such a high note, the future of UM-Flint hockey looks brighter than ever.
“I see us eventually becoming a varsity level sport. In addition to that, if we keep building upon the caliber of players we already have and keep developing the guys we got,” Garavaglia said. “I see some championships in the future. Probably another year or two until we see something like that.”
Garavaglia notes that the team has already brought a good vibe to the campus. “We’ve brought students here that probably wouldn’t have come here otherwise if there wasn’t a hockey team for them to play on.”
“We do well talent-wise,” Berry said. “We draw good high school players.”
The hockey club has been able to draw in students to attend UM-Flint. Players like Rihacek and Zach Brazeal, who stated that the fact hockey was available at the school swayed their decision to enroll at UM-Flint.
“It’s nice going into every game knowing we could win,” Berry said. “Some of our close games that we lost, if we’d won, we could have finished as high as sixth.”
Nevertheless, the hockey team has made a significant impact on the UM-Flint campus in just three short years. Given recent events from this season, there seems to be no sign of that stopping.
Krystle can be reached at khollema@umflint.edu.
Andrew can be reached at afergers@umflint.edu.
It’s a common part of the college experience.
But for one former University of Michigan-Flint student, his daydreams were just a little different and helped prospective students look at UM-Flint as their university of choice to further both their education and athletic hopes.
When Tom Garavaglia was in class, he thought about hockey. Having started playing ice hockey when he was in the sixth grade, Garavaglia started playing hockey somewhat late by most standards.
“I begged my mom to let me play,” Garavaglia said. “She finally gave in when I was in the sixth grade. I haven’t stopped since.”
Garavaglia literally got the idea while talking with former teammates in class.
“I was just sitting in one of my classes one day and I was talking to some friends of mine who I used to play with and we were just talking about the old days when we used play hockey and I just said, ‘You know what? I’m going to start a team,’” Garavaglia said.
It didn’t take long for him to get the ball rolling.
“Literally that day I was sitting in class and I started sending emails out to ACHA, and also to Perani Arena and some of the universities to see what needed to be done to start something and it took off from there.”
Garavaglia did quick research in order to start the team.
“I talked to the club team out of Ann Arbor to see what they had done, especially when it came to a budget and based a little bit of my budget on theirs,” Garavaglia said, “but for the most part it was a one of a kind thing.”
Garavaglia had high hopes for what a hockey team would bring to the campus community.
“I wanted something that the whole University could get behind. At the time, there wasn’t anything on campus for the students to go and root for to make it seem like a college campus.
“I just wanted to make it feel like something that people could belong to. I thought the University could grow as a whole,” Garavaglia said.
The first two years were tough for the team, as is expected with any up-start team.
“We wrote our goals down before the start of our first season,” center Joe Berry, who has been with the team since its inception, said. “Some people said be a .500 team, some said playoffs. I wrote down win a game. So when we finally did, we had a load off our back.”
The second season was an improvement from the first. “We were actually in the games,” Berry said.
“Obviously the first year was a pretty rough one. The second one was also pretty rough but definitely an improvement over the first,” Garavaglia said.
However, the third season was a complete turn around from the previous two.
“This season was a huge step forward,” Coach Bill Golling said. “We have five players from our first year so it’s rewarding for them to see a good season.”
“This season built on their confidence,” Golling said. “They didn’t necessarily have that the first two years.”
Assistant Coach Don Edwards said, “They developed a mindset to compete.”
“This year we were able to bring in some great guys and build on a foundation we’ve already established,” Garavaglia said. “We’ve taken off pretty well. Before, there was never any kind of talk of us being ranked nationally.”
The biggest problem the team has faced? Financing.
Fundraising for the team has been difficult this year. “Our goal for the offseason is to organize a lot of fundraisers,” Berry said. “Hockey’s an expensive sport. We’d hate to get the team to this point and run it into the ground financially.”
After such a successful season, how does the team plan on improving the club? “We plan on having a team meeting very soon,” defenseman Aaron Rihacek said. “We’re going to try to set up some fundraising programs, like a team golf outing.”
Now that the team has wrapped up their third season on such a high note, the future of UM-Flint hockey looks brighter than ever.
“I see us eventually becoming a varsity level sport. In addition to that, if we keep building upon the caliber of players we already have and keep developing the guys we got,” Garavaglia said. “I see some championships in the future. Probably another year or two until we see something like that.”
Garavaglia notes that the team has already brought a good vibe to the campus. “We’ve brought students here that probably wouldn’t have come here otherwise if there wasn’t a hockey team for them to play on.”
“We do well talent-wise,” Berry said. “We draw good high school players.”
The hockey club has been able to draw in students to attend UM-Flint. Players like Rihacek and Zach Brazeal, who stated that the fact hockey was available at the school swayed their decision to enroll at UM-Flint.
“It’s nice going into every game knowing we could win,” Berry said. “Some of our close games that we lost, if we’d won, we could have finished as high as sixth.”
Nevertheless, the hockey team has made a significant impact on the UM-Flint campus in just three short years. Given recent events from this season, there seems to be no sign of that stopping.
Krystle can be reached at khollema@umflint.edu.
Andrew can be reached at afergers@umflint.edu.
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