Men’s club hockey skates to national title

The Binghamton University men’s club hockey team won the 2022–23 national championship with a victory over Fairfield University.

The team, which plays its Upstate New York Club Hockey League home games at the SUNY Broome Community College Ice Center, advanced to the Division II AAU College Hockey National Championship for the second year in a row. In the tournament, Binghamton defeated the University at Buffalo in the quarterfinals and then topped the previously unbeaten University of Tampa in the semifinals. Binghamton defeated Fairfield, 6–3, on March 15 to win the national title. The team finished the season with a record of 23–5–1.

On March 20, team members presented the championship trophy to President Harvey Stenger in a ceremony at the Couper Administration Building. Stenger, a hockey player himself, congratulated the students and was given an honorary jersey by the team’s alternate captain, Owen Rowell. In April, the team was honored with The President’s Medal.

“This is going to keep all of us bonded for the rest of our lives,” team captain and defenseman Jack O’Bryan says.

For O’Bryan, a senior studying actuarial science, club sports are a vital part of the college experience because they allow students to participate without the commitment required from varsity athletes.

“We can come back in 20 years and have this,” says O’Bryan, who plans to continue playing with the team next season as a graduate student. “We’ll be able to look back, look at videos and clips, and have all those memories together.”

When Stenger asked team members what their plans are for next season, O’Bryan grinned and said they would “do it again.”