{"680772":{"#nid":"680772","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech, UGA Rivalry Hits the Ice ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EClean, Old-Fashioned Hate hits the ice Sunday as the Georgia Tech Hockey Club takes on the Georgia Bulldogs. When the puck drops at 11:30 a.m. inside Gas South Arena, the rival clubs will compete for in-state bragging rights, but beyond that, the leaders of the Yellow Jackets see an opportunity to grow.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith the absence of NCAA Division I competition in the region, club teams fill the void on campuses across the South. Teams are often student-run, and Colin Chambless, the current secretary and incoming team president, believes that Sunday\u2019s matchup is about something more than just a rivalry. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We might hate these guys on the ice, but at the end of the day, hockey is such a small community that we share a mutual respect for one another,\u201d the second-year aerospace engineering student said. \u201cSo, I can always say, \u0027To hell with Georgia,\u0027 but it\u0027s so cool that we\u2019re able to spread the wealth in terms of hockey enjoyment, and our main goal is to grow the game.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom booking late-night ice time for practices to social media engagement to executing on gamedays, the club\u0027s daily operation can admittedly \u0022be a grind\u0022 for Chambless and the other members of the executive board. However, the early mornings and long nights are worthwhile for him as a Massachusetts native sharing his lifelong passion with a new audience. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I have friends here who are new to hockey and have come out to see our games and walked away in awe of the sport saying, \u0027This is the greatest thing I\u0027ve ever seen.\u2019 We all love hockey, not only because we get to keep that competitive and fun experience that we had growing up but because of all it has to offer. It\u0027s rewarding to see the smiles on people\u0027s faces when they experience it along with us,\u201d he said. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen he moved from Minnesota to Georgia before high school, public relations chair Andy Hildrum, a first-year business administration student, was skeptical of club hockey, but from his time in travel leagues and now as a Yellow Jacket, he wants fans to realize that hockey isn\u0027t a typical extracurricular activity. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It\u0027s more competitive than people realize, especially in the South and out West where there isn\u0027t NCAA hockey. These clubs are made up of talented players who grew up playing competitive hockey but chose to go to school outside of the traditional hockey hotbeds. All of our members are students, but they\u0027re also athletes, and even though they didn\u0027t pursue athletics as their full-time career, they still want to continue playing at a high level,\u0022 Hildrum said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Yellow Jackets compete in the Amateur Athletic Union\u0027s College Hockey South Conference but will move to the American Collegiate Hockey Association for the 2025-26 season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team practices and plays most of their home games at the Atlanta IceForum \u2014 the former practice home of the Atlanta Thrashers. Atlanta has seen two National Hockey League teams depart the city since the Jackets\u2019 club was established in the early 1970s, and Hildrum hopes they can fill that void. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022That presence can have a big effect on youth hockey, so we\u0027re focused on expanding our reach, not only here at Georgia Tech but also throughout the metro area, to help kids of all ages get into hockey or to get new fans interested in the game,\u0022 he said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis season, the club has made enhancements to the gameday experience, including Georgia Tech Marching Band members playing in the stands, bringing the Ramblin\u2019 Wreck on the ice, and inviting special guests to drop the puck at the beginning of games. Fans unable to attend games can watch livestreams on the team\u0027s YouTube channel, where play-by-play voice and team manager Sterling Kalogeras works to replicate a television broadcast with replays, in-game interviews, and intermission reports. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn the ice, the club graduated many of its senior members before the 2024-25 season, and Chambliss sees a young team finding their form as they prepare for Sunday and the upcoming \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/aautournamentcentral.org\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAAU National Tournament\u003C\/a\u003E in Jacksonville, Florida, March 18 \u2013 25.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Ahead of a rivalry showdown against UGA, the Georgia Tech Hockey Club sees an opportunity to grow their sport. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAhead of a rivalry showdown against UGA, the Georgia Tech Hockey Club sees an opportunity to grow their sport.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ahead of a rivalry showdown against UGA, the Georgia Tech Hockey Club sees an opportunity to grow their sport. "}],"uid":"36418","created_gmt":"2025-02-27 01:17:53","changed_gmt":"2025-02-27 14:50:41","author":"sgagliano3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-02-26T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-02-26T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676418":{"id":"676418","type":"video","title":"Georgia Tech Hockey Club Focused on Growing the Game","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAhead of a rivalry showdown against UGA, the Georgia Tech Hockey Club sees an opportunity to grow their sport.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1740667673","gmt_created":"2025-02-27 14:47:53","changed":"1740667673","gmt_changed":"2025-02-27 14:47:53","video":{"youtube_id":"chzGoknbDcQ","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=chzGoknbDcQ"}},"676416":{"id":"676416","type":"image","title":"GT vs. UGA Hockey","body":null,"created":"1740619161","gmt_created":"2025-02-27 01:19:21","changed":"1740619161","gmt_changed":"2025-02-27 01:19:21","alt":"GT vs. UGA Hockey","file":{"fid":"260200","name":"472185329_1169179818547405_4463788305187222647_n.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/02\/26\/472185329_1169179818547405_4463788305187222647_n.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/02\/26\/472185329_1169179818547405_4463788305187222647_n.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":505324,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/02\/26\/472185329_1169179818547405_4463788305187222647_n.jpg?itok=C_V1vb_i"}}},"media_ids":["676418","676416"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.gthockey.com\/#nav-anchor","title":"Georgia Tech Hockey Club"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187796","name":"Georgia Tech Hockey"},{"id":"8366","name":"club sports"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Gagliano\u003C\/a\u003E - Institute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}