Whether you’ve seen them in LSU’s Free Speech Alley this week or found their Instagram online, the LSU club hockey team is making great strides to connect with the LSU community.
Active since 2023, following its 2018 disbandment, LSU’s club team has dedicated itself to bringing the game of ice hockey to Louisiana, with dreams of one day seeing LSU hockey as the face of the sport in the South.
To strengthen its program and achieve those dreams, the team has implemented recent changes in management as of last October. One of those key changes was the decision to bring a new coach onboard, cueing the introduction of head coach John Martino.
“I played five years of ACHA hockey for Rider University in Central Jersey,” Martino said. “I just kind of have always had a personal affinity for hockey … and my first professional full-time job was the assistant hockey director for the St. Louis Blues practice facility.”
While working in St. Louis, Missouri, Martino oversaw practices and exhibition games for both USA Hockey and the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) as well as the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) nationals competition.
After being honored with an award by the Blues and NHL as a community coach, Martino’s love for the sport followed him to Baton Rouge, where he accepted a position as an LSU admissions counselor alongside his coaching role.
Now that Martino has been with the team for nearly three months, he has a clear set of goals to move this club program forward.
“We know we have to get an elite product on the ice,” Martino said. “We have to get community support. So that’s going to come through community engagement activations, fan engagement activations and a major push on the fundraising and sponsorship sales side.”
When it comes to fostering community engagement, members of the club hockey team have been in Free Speech Alley nearly all week, advertising jersey sales and talking more about the team with the goal of enhancing their presence on campus.
“I think the biggest battle we’re fighting right now is that not a large number of people even know about LSU having a hockey team,” Martino said. “I would love for students and community members to be able to interact with the players, and just kind of get to know who’s representing their community, their school and their brand.”
As Martino works to build his team into the best versions of themselves, he’s also taking strides to find a place for LSU hockey in another conference within the ACHA.
While many SEC schools are sanctioned within College Hockey South, Martino said that LSU’s team is trying to take a different route and break into the Texas Collegiate Hockey Conference.
This decision is based on the fact that travel and expenses required for games would be more affordable given the proximity of the TCHC compared to having to travel a greater distance to face off teams a part of College Hockey South that are based in states like Tennessee and Florida.
While becoming a sanctioned team within the TCHC is the first goal on the charts, Martino expressed hope about one day pushing LSU Club hockey to become an NCAA-sanctioned team after watching Oklahoma State University attempt to do the same thing for its program.
If all goes according to plan, Martino intends to see this program all the way to the NCAA, but before he can do that, he’s counting on the LSU community to foster its growth.
Whether that means purchasing merchandise, following the team’s social media, or — what would seem to help most of all — attending games, Martino expressed that any positive response from LSU’s student body would be valuable and has the ability to push the team forward.
“I think once we really get on the map, the elite talent will want to come here,” Martino said. “They just don’t know it’s here yet, like the program itself. Once that happens, this [program’s growth] is going to move very quickly.”
LSU club hockey is set to play a series of games this weekend, with the first puck drop being on Friday night at Planet Ice in Lafayette, Louisiana, in a matchup against Rice University. Following Friday night on the ice, LSU will face Rice once again on Saturday and play its final game of the week on Sunday against Tulane.
So, if you’re looking to invest your time into LSU club hockey, consider heading over to Lafayette to watch a match on the ice this weekend.
