Due to the club’s current derecognition status under UB’s Student Association (SA), the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams announced that they are unable to compete for this fall semester. The possibility of the two teams competing in the spring remains uncertain.
SA derecognized the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams in May, citing the club’s failure to host three on-campus events during the '23-24 school year. Both teams previously expressed frustration with SA for logistical issues, including difficulties securing transportation to games and advance payments to referees. A month before the derecognition, the men’s ice hockey team faced an approximately $4,000 fine, in addition to 21 separate violations, for failing to follow club regulations.
Ice hockey meetings are held in Northtown Center in Amherst, a seven-minute drive from UB’s North Campus, which club leaders argued was close enough to count as an on-campus meeting.
As of now, the ice hockey teams cannot access their accounts within SA. Club leaders estimate the amount to be approximately $30,000.
Two months after the decision, SA rejected a club appeal submitted by the men’s Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) ice hockey team to rescind the derecognition status for the men’s ice hockey team. According to SA, the appeal did not fulfill any criteria to be considered valid.
The document claimed that the failure to document three on-campus meetings was the result of “negligence” from its counterpart, the men’s American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) team. The AAU team alleged that the ACHA team “made plans” during the '23-24 year to leave SA by fall ‘24 and as a result, the ACHA team had “no interest in following SA guidelines.”
In a statement to The Spectrum, Morgan von Hedemann — head coach of the men’s ACHA ice hockey team — denied that the ACHA team separated from the AAU team and said that both teams should still be considered as one club.
Attempts to reestablish the ice hockey teams under other organizations and departments have been unsuccessful. As of now, according to Hedemann, the teams had almost secured a spot under the UB School of Management until the office of the Provost intervened, stating that only departments under Student Life can recognize student athletic programs.
Assistant UB Student Engagement director Thomas Vane said that under the University-Wide Student Organization Recognition Policy, students “may request to be recognized by any approved recognizing agent, such as a department/decanal unit” but approval is “at the recognizing agent’s discretion” in an email to The Spectrum.
The ACHA team released a petition to reinstate the ice hockey programs at UB which accumulated over 4,000 signatures.
“I’m trying to give back to the players that — you know, I was in their shoes when I was in college — I hope the university understands that hockey is a bit more than a game to these guys,” Hedemann said, “A lot of these students are here for hockey so this is upsetting to them to say the least.”
Head coach of the AAU team Cody Felser said the AAU team has “nothing to do with the petition.”
In a statement to The Spectrum, SA said that it has been “in communication with a student representative of the former men’s hockey club” and it is “working with the Men’s Ice Hockey Club to assist them to be successful once they apply for recognition on Nov. 1 as SA would with any other prospective club.”
Club leaders of the ice hockey teams and SA are expected to meet this week.
Rodrigo Feijão contributed to the reporting of this article.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
