UNLV club hockey team jumps up in classification
The familiar UNLV arch logo was being mounted on the wall adjacent to the team’s locker room at City National Arena on Monday in what was yet another sign of progress for the school’s ice hockey club.
The Rebels have a new home after bouncing back and forth between the Las Vegas Ice Center and the Sobe Ice Arena for the last decade.
They also have 20 new faces from last year’s team, which went to the American Collegiate Hockey Association nationals for the first time.
Those players will be part of a team making the jump from Division 2 to the ACHA’S Division 1 as the 2017-18 season begins Friday at Arizona State. The home opener is Sept. 22 against Colorado.
“This is what we envisioned when we took over a couple of years ago,” said Zee Khan, the team’s general manager. “The move to D-1 was top priority. We love our new home. We have our own locker room. It’s allowed us to grow a little quicker than we expected.”
On the ice, the goal was to get an even higher quality player. Despite the fact the program went to the nationals, only 10 from that team return, including leading scorer Cody Williams.
But third-year head coach Anthony Vignieri Greener said if the program is to continue moving forward and ultimately gain NCAA varsity status, it had to upgrade its talent level.
“It’s a different game at D-1,” he said. “We had to get faster and quicker. We’re going up against some teams that can beat NCAA Division III teams. That’s how good the quality of competition is.”
Khan said the recruitment of a lot of players in the British Columbia and Alberta Junior leagues as part of the 20-member class raises the team’s overall talent level considerably.
“These guys can really skate and they can compete,” Khan said.
UNLV was 31-9 last year and is 5517-2 over the last two seasons.
“We’ve created a culture of success,” Khan said. “We’re still working on the varsity move, and that’s probably two or three years away. But we have to make an impact as an ACHA D-1 program first.”
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.