Indiana University Hockey proudly welcomes new head coach Jan Jas!

By Tyler James Perry

Any team in any sport is bound to go through a number of changes from season to season. For the Hoosiers, next season will bring a whole new set of changes, including a switch from Division II to Division I, their exodus from the GMHL and a brand new schedule chock full of teams they haven’t faced.

Out of the 37 regular season games, 21 will be against teams they didn’t play last year, as they will play a total of 10 new teams, including North Dakota State University, Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma.

Since Indiana will no longer be in the GMHL, they will operate independently playing teams from various leagues.

Junior defenseman Brandon Dornish said he’s looking forward to playing new clubs.

“It’s always fun to go to a new environment,” Dornish said. “Most kids on the team have never even played at some of these places, like North Dakota.”

The furthest the Hoosiers traveled this season was to games in the state of Michigan, where most of their away games were hosted. Next season will show the team traveling to many other regions of the country.

“We usually just take the bus for a few hours, but it’s always interesting having to check the bags in at the airport,” Dornish said. “It’s not the normal way of getting to the rink.”

The new schedule is not only nice for players wanting to see new arenas, but for family members who live out of state, and may not get the opportunity to see their sons play.

Dornish will have a personal homecoming next February when IU plays three games in a row from Fri-Sun all in the Pittsburgh, Pa., area, his hometown.

“It’s going to be nice,” he said. “My mom is already planning on having a dinner at her house.”

That weekend could prove to be one of the biggest challenges for the team, as they will play the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and Washington and Jefferson all in consecutive days.

“By the third game, I’m sure everyone will be much slower, but if we have a lot of good kids at tryouts, we can hopefully have a good, deep team, and everyone can play and not be tired by the end of the weekend,” Dornish said.

Head Coach Tom Orr said he scheduled the three-game weekend in part to help the team prepare for post-season tournaments, which usually play games on consecutive days, and sometimes even more than one game a day.

Orr is a native of Ypsilante, N.D., so playing against North Dakota State University is something he said he is excited about.

“I’m really looking forward to that one,” he said. “It’s a team I grew up with and watched a little bit, so it will be a neat one to play.”

Orr went to school at the rivaling University of North Dakota. He even tried out for the Fighting Sioux hockey team, but missed the cut as he was going up against future professional hockey players. The team would go on to win the NCAA national championship two times in the four years he was enrolled.

Among the returning teams will be Wright State, who has become a fresh rivalry. IU will also face old rivals Kentucky.

Junior center Adam Logue said he’s excited to play Illinois at home next year, and even more excited to play Oklahoma on the road.

“That’s the one I’m anticipating the most,” Logue said. “I’ve never played hockey in the south before, and I want to see how their university is compared to us.”

He said the team shouldn’t be affected by the lengthy travels the team will endure next season.

“All these kids have been playing hockey their whole lives, and we’ve been playing travel hockey for years, so we’re used to it.”

Indiana University Ice Hockey Schedule