Icepack Takes on Hurricanes Alumni as Expansion of Club Sports Opportunities Continues

Over the years, playing on the ice at the Lenovo Center (formerly PNC Arena) has become a  familiar annual experience to members of the Icepack, NC State’s club hockey team. 

On Monday, Jan. 13, however, when the Icepack took to the ice, the players saw a different type of opponent than they would in their normal club games. The faces on the opposing roster included Eric Staal, who leads the Carolina Hurricanes in most all-time offensive statistical categories and had his jersey number retired the day before, Justin Williams, famously dubbed “Mr. Game Seven” for his playoff heroics, Rod Brind’Amour, another former player with a retired number and the Hurricanes’ current head coach, and a slew of other Hurricanes legends. 

The Icepack served as the visiting team in the Hurricanes’ alumni game, intended as the “ice cap” for the celebratory weekend around Staal’s jersey retirement, and, in doing so, got a chance to play against local hockey legends. And they even snagged the victory in a 7-6 barn burner. 

There are 40-50 guys out there that all love to play hockey.

“We’ve gotten these really cool opportunities to be around these guys in the past couple years, but to be on the same ice, seeing just how talented they are, it’s surreal,” said Zachary Herman, the Icepack’s team captain. “You grow up watching these guys, and a lot of them are the reason you play hockey. Everyone’s just out there having fun, regardless of where you’re from, how old you are and what your other hobbies are, there are 40-50 guys out there that all love to play hockey.” 

The Icepack’s participation in the alumni game marked yet another example of the unique opportunities the team, and NC State’s Club Sports program as a whole, has afforded to students, as well as the Icepack’s unique role in the local growth of the game of hockey. 

A Club Community 

NC State’s Club Sports program is housed within Wellness and Recreation, and offers over 50 different teams for students to participate in. 

Grayson Martin, Wellness and Recreation’s Sports Programs assistant director, explained that for students who miss the competitive spirit of high school sports, club sports offer a valuable outlet. They provide a structured environment with practices, scheduled contests and a higher level of competition than intramurals. This allows students to maintain their athletic skills, develop teamwork and enjoy the camaraderie of team sports within a university setting.

“I think regardless of what sport it is, if you’re someone who grew up playing sports, regardless of what level, if you really care about that sport, you can’t quit,” Herman said. “No part of you will let it go regardless of how old you get, how overwhelming school may become, how much stuff you have going on as you become an adult, you just can’t let go. To be able to come to a big university like this and still be able to do what you love to do, and to have support from the school, from the club program, from the community, it just makes it a dream come true to still be playing.” 

Wellness and Recreation allocates about $80,000 a year to be split among all of the club teams, but the vast majority of the clubs’ operating budgets come from self-funding. 

The goal for us is to create a club community.

Martin explained that Wellness and Recreation provides mentorship and support to clubs in various areas, such as travel logistics for large competitions, planning and hosting events and member recruitment and mediation

“The goal for us is to create a club community,” Martin said. “It’s not just 50 different teams operating independently. When they’re on campus, they can say ‘Oh, you’re a member of Icepack, right? You’re a member of women’s club volleyball?’ We’re still in the club program together, what are the shared resources that we have, and what are some collaborations, especially because every club is at a different level of competition with the way they function and the amount of money that they hold. Our goal is to create a broader student community for them, and allow them to have that anchor community on campus.” 

Unique Opportunities 

In addition to the aforementioned ability to keep playing their chosen sport at a high level of competition, club sports offer NC State students a host of unique opportunities and experiences. 

Competing in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL), the Icepack has stood out with many of these chances, affording its players an opportunity to play in front of large crowds at the Wake Competition Center, which is also home to the Hurricanes’ practice facility. 

“Icepack is definitely in a class of its own in the way that it operates, and the amount of revenues and expenses that they’re dealing with every year,” Martin said. “I give them a lot of credit. They’ve set up such great organizational leadership and processes, to where a lot of clubs will go through stretches where they’re very competitive, minding their Ps and Qs, making sure that everything is done correctly, but what happens is after four years, we see a drop-off, because students graduate. The officers who are leading the organization may not transfer, there’s a little bit of a drop-off and we have to build back. With Icepack, it’s continual. They’ve always grown year after year.”

The most recent example of these opportunities was the aforementioned Hurricanes Alumni Game, allowing the players who, in many cases, grew up playing and watching hockey in North Carolina, to play against their heroes.

“A lot of those guys that were out there were the spark plug of what got hockey going and brought all of the attention to North Carolina,” Herman said. “Eric Staal, Rod Brind’Amour, Justin Williams, these were some of the best players to ever wear a Hurricanes jersey. Just to be out there and be around those guys and know that those are the guys you grew up wanting to be like, it’s cool because through their successes and ability to grow the game, they’ve given us a chance and a platform to help us grow the game for the next generation of kids.”

Club sports at NC State also offer their participants the chance to grow leadership, organizational and business skills. 

Martin said that’s the primary reason Wellness and Recreation largely takes a hands-off approach to the day-to-day management of the clubs, to allow the students these development opportunities. 

There have been so many life lessons that I’ve taken away from being on the team.

In addition to his on-ice role as team captain, Herman is the head of campus engagement for the Icepack, in charge of marketing the team to the Wolfpack community. As a finance marketing student, this is giving him invaluable experience towards his future career. 

“I want to work in sports marketing,” Herman said. “Aside from the actual hockey, there have been so many life lessons that I’ve taken away from being on the team and being on the media marketing side of things.”

The Icepack has hosted other “once in a lifetime” experiences for its players, including playing against UNC in the Frozen Finley game in 2023, an outdoor game at Carter-Finley Stadium that was the largest club sporting event in North Carolina history. 

Martin said that these unique experiences through club sports have become a draw for incoming NC State students, with Wellness and Recreation employees often fielding questions from parents about the program at summer orientation. 

“I think it helps a lot of our other clubs and inspires them to reach for the stars,” Martin said. “They can say ‘Wow, they’re a student just like me, and this is what they did? What can I do for my organization?’ Hopefully we build on that momentum and keep elevating our club program to where every club is having their own unique experience. Whatever is that they want to do, hopefully they have those aspirations now, and they’ve seen someone else do it. It gives them a template to work off.”

Growing The Game

The NC State Club Sports program is not the only organization or community that’s benefited from the Icepack’s growth. 

Over the last several years, the club’s relationship with the Hurricanes has grown exponentially, through the annual Roy Cooper Governor’s Cup matchups at Lenovo Center, with the annual rivalry titles renamed in honor of North Carolina’s outgoing governor, an ardent hockey fan, and other partnerships. 

Hurricanes Director of Youth Hockey and Community Outreach Shane Willis, who works with NC State head coach Tim Healey in youth hockey, explained that this partnership made the Icepack an ideal opponent for the alumni game, allowing all of the Hurricanes’ alumni to play on the same team to cap off Eric Staal’s celebratory weekend. 

I watched these kids grow up here.

“For me, when you look at the experience, being around the guys and telling stories, when guys leave the game, that’s what they miss the most,” Willis said. “But on the flipside, when I look across the ice and I look at the roster for the Icepack, I watched these kids grow up here. I watched them work extremely hard for either the Junior Hurricanes or whatever organization they played for, and now they’re playing and working extremely hard in school, and they get to play against guys that were their heroes when they coached them or were in the local rink. So it’s a full-circle appreciation for me and the Hurricanes of what has grown here when it comes to hockey and youth hockey.”

Willis, a Hurricanes alum himself, has spent over two decades working to grow the game of hockey locally and throughout the state. 

The Hurricanes’ success in their 25+ years in the state has played a major role in that growth, and the number of local students who have been afforded the opportunity to keep playing hockey at NC State stands as a testament. 

“The students that are playing at NC State, so many of them played together as kids,” Willis said. “I think that’s the cool bond about playing in a hockey community, you become friends and family for life. They are playing a sport while working hard in school with their buddies that they grew up with. I think that shows a lot about what the school does for them and what club sports means to the school. A lot of schools don’t take club sports as seriously, but NC State runs it differently. I think they do club sports very well, especially hockey.”

For the current group of Icepack players, the goal is to continue to grow the club’s brand, and that of the club sports program, to continue making club sports part of the draw for NC State as a destination. 

“Every kid grows up wanting to play Division-I hockey, and every kid grows up wanting to go to the NHL,” Herman said. “But reality sets in, and I think what we have going is the next best thing for the players. I had the opportunity to move to Canada when I was 18, and I chose to come to NC State instead. I would never change it. I’ve gotten to do so many cool things that I never would have expected. From a player’s perspective, you appreciate all of these really cool things you get to do, but you also know that our team matters to people. That really is the best feeling. It brings another side of the sporting world to people in North Carolina that didn’t grow up hockey fans, and maybe they’re seeing it now.”