Hilbert Hawks Hockey

This section will outline some basic information for joining the team. An FAQ section is included below. If you have any other questions, please email us at [email protected]

The Hilbert Hawks Men's Ice Hockey team is a club team that gives players the opportunity to play competitive, organized ice hockey at the college level. The program is in its third full year, but has been in existence since 2002. Since the start, the team has increased in size, talent, and was accepted into the CHA (College Hockey Association) division at the start of the 2005 season. The goal of the program is to eventually have a division III, NCAA sponsored varsity team at Hilbert College.

If you've played any ice hockey before, you do know that it is an expensive sport. We are all college students and know how hard it would be to require an extensive amount of money to play, so we make every attempt possible to keep costs down through sponsorships or fundraisers. There are some mandatory costs for your jerseys and socks, which at the present time is $110. That is for two jerseys and two sets of socks (home and away), which will last each player four years, so it's a great investment. In the past, a fee of $100 has been required besides jerseys to play because of increasing costs to skate at local rinks. Other costs that the players are responsible for are transportation and lodging costs for away games. Unless we've made enough money through sponsorships or fundraisers, we drive our own cars to the games, home or away, and pay for our hotel rooms. We do split the costs by how many people you stay with in your room so average hotel costs are around $25 - $30 each trip and if you carpool to away games, we split the price of gas too.

The Hawks typically play around 20 games a season. We play 10-12 games against league opponents, one home and and one away, and schedule non league games with other colleges in NY and the surrounding area. In general, games are within reasonable driving distance. However, there will be some overnight trips on various weekends. Home games are played at Holiday Rinks in Cheektowaga, NY or at the Pepsi Center in Amherst, NY and practices are generally held twice a week at Leisure Rinks before classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Practice times are subject to change for this season. Practices are mandatory, but remember, School ALWAYS comes first.

The team is required to do an act of Community Service, so you are required to take part in these events. One example is a charity hockey game played at the HSBC Arena (Buffalo NY, Home of the Buffalo Sabres), where the Hawks teamed up with the Hamburg Police Department Ice Hockey Team to benefit a cancer victim, which raised over $4000. Another example of a community service project is the team's succesful "Penalty Box Fund" where each player made a donation for each penalty taken. At the end of the 2007-2008 season, the team donated the funds raised to Alex's Lemonade Stand.

If you are interested, or have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email us at [email protected]