Icers open schedule as lack of funds puts status of season in jeopardy

The UA women's club ice hockey team would love nothing more than a chance to win a few games on the ice, but the only way that will happen is if the Icers win their current battle out of the rink - by trying to earn enough money to salvage their season.

Entering its sixth season of play, a desperate lack of funds and consistent lack of awareness in the local community have created the possibility that the Icers will have to cut their season short well before its intended finish date.

"I just want to get our name out there," said sophomore center Abby Silberman. "We are so determined and we play just for the love of the game."

Silberman and her teammates will get the opportunity to play this weekend, when the Icers travel to Glendale Arena near Phoenix tomorrow to play their first game against Arizona State at 4:30 p.m. With the NHL lockout keeping professional teams off the ice, the game may be one of the few times the rink in Glendale, opened last December, is used this year.

Since the UA women's ice hockey team is a club team, it depends on sponsors for most of its funding, while receiving a small amount from the UA. Currently the team has about $6,000. The estimated budget to complete the season is about $25,000.

The team as a whole only really has one main goal this season, its players say.

That is, to just be able to have a season.

"My main wish is for people to see how hard we work," sophomore defenseman Lisa Walsh, projected to be this year's team captain, said about the upcoming season.

"We are here. We exist," said Walsh, now in her 11th season playing ice hockey, and second with UA. "We wish people would support us too."