California Ice Hockey | Spring 2023 Campaign

The Cal Ice Hockey Team was founded in 1929 and has competed in the PAC-8 conference since 1996. This past season we finished with a 14-7-1 record and our program continues to see success as we qualified for the 2023 ACHA Western Regional Tournament. Although our team has been successful we have continuously struggled to make ends meet because we receive no funding from the school. As a result, we depend heavily on donations and player fees that can prevent competent players from joining our program due to the high barrier of entry. In addition, we are unable to conduct more hockey outreach events, such as “Try Hockey for Free” skates where we could help teach children how to play hockey. Any donation can go a long way and we are extremely grateful to those who can help us continue our passion of playing ice hockey.

Celebrating our 'Big Freeze' 11-2 win over Stanford

Based on previous budgets and our current plans, we expect to spend approximately 100k in the 2023-2024 season. The majority of our budget is dedicated to rink fees, which covers the costs of renting ice time for practices, games, and travel. Our budgeted expenditures are shown in the graph below.

Our project originates from our financial struggles that continually makes it difficult for our team to improve and succeed. Due to our lack of funding, our team has to be extremely frugal holding practice times at 6am. This puts an extreme strain on our players as we attempt to balance the workload of attending UC Berkeley while pursuing the sport we love. In addition, we only can afford to practice twice a week compared to our competitors who practice 4-5 times a week leaving us at an extreme disadvantage. Lastly, Not only does our budget leave us with inconvenient practice times, but we are also unable to travel to play more competitive teams to compete for the national championship.

Captain Jake Sitak preparing for play

All things considered, the most important goal of this fundraising campaign is to expand our impact on the surrounding community. Specifically, our team hopes to invest time and money in hockey outreach events with projects like charity games, summer camps, and youth team mentoring. Another implementation our team strives to make is holding a “teddy bear toss” game, where after the first goal is scored fans will throw teddy bears onto the ice that will then be donated to an orphanage or sick children’s hospital. In closing, your donation will go a long way to help both the team and the communities of Berkeley and Oakland.