Marshall University’s ice hockey team is 0-2 this season, but its record is not stopping it from having high expectations for the rest of the season.

Steven Macuch, sophomore team captain, said its recent losses to Wittenberg University were due to penalties, and the defense was not as solid as it could have been. 

“We pulled a good game, it just wasn’t our weekend,” Macuch said.

Last semester the team finished with a 4-4 record, and now the team is ready to win the rest of its games this semester, Macuch said.

“This semester we have a big tournament coming up Valentine’s Day weekend, and we’re looking to win that, hopefully bring home a trophy,” Macuch said.

J.D. Rappold, graduate student and alternate team captain, said the team is currently a Division II club sport, and with a strong record and enough players, it can reach its goal of becoming a Division I team.

The hockey team plays its home games in the South Charleston Memorial Ice Arena, about an hour from Marshall’s Huntington campus. It practices one to two times per week at the arena.

Herd Hockey players are able to practice off the ice at the HIT Center in Huntington, Macuch said.

When it played West Virginia University at home in September, about 800 tickets were sold to the game, and this year there was a lot more green in the crowd than blue and gold, Macuch said.

Rappold said the ice rink helps the team with attendance, and most of the team’s support is from the Charleston area.

“We have a huge fan base, but most of the fan base isn’t from Marshall,” Rappold said.  “A lot of it is, but most of them are the kids that play hockey and the families, so if we could get more of a college fan base that would be great.”

It has six more games scheduled for this semester. The team is working on scheduling two home games in March.

Once finalized, dates and times will be posted on the team’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

“We’d just like some more support, more college kids to come out to our games,” Macuch said.

For its next game, the team faces WVU in the Wooster Invitational Ice Hockey Tournament 3:10 p.m. Saturday in Wooster, Ohio.

Kasey Madden can be contacted at [email protected].