Underwater hockey team splashes into new season

UNC’s underwater hockey club team proves ice rinks and grass fields aren’t the only settings for hockey games.

Underwater hockey consists of two teams of six trying to shoot a weighted puck into their opponent’s goal. Players carry short sticks and wear protective gear, fins and snorkels as they attempt to push the puck into their opponent’s goal.

“We compete with several other universities across the country,” said Micah Rogers, the organization officer of the underwater hockey team. “There are a few tournaments we go to each year.”

Rogers said the team has a tournament in October at George Mason University.

Alec Niccum, a new addition to the team’s roster, said the sport has a long history. It’s called Octopush in Britain.

“It came from Britain in the 1960s or 1970s,” Niccum said. “There was a snorkeling and scuba diving club that wanted to find a way for their members to clear the water from their snorkels when they came up from diving, so they progressed to underwater hockey, and it expanded.”

The players said playing a cardio-intensive sport while holding your breath can be tricky.

“It’s an interesting challenge to play underwater,” Rogers said. “The added element of holding your breath as long as possible makes it harder. We have a lot of scuba divers and swimmers, and they wanted an extra challenge, so underwater hockey seemed like a good fit.”

Juan Aguilera, the treasurer of the team, said the sport is more physically demanding than people think.

“It’s a contact sport,” Aguilera said. “You can hit underwater. It looks like a lot of people just splashing in the water, but when you’re playing it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a really good workout.”

“We practice every week — currently Monday and Wednesday — and we are usually in one or two tournaments per semester,” Aguilera said.

Niccum said the sport differs greatly from hockey.

“It is in a completely different medium – I’m a swimmer, not an ice skater,” Niccum said. “It might be more intense of a team sport than hockey because you have a limited time on the field of play. You have to know exactly what you’re doing.”

Niccum said the comical aspect of the sport attracted him to it.

“I found underwater hockey because I was going through the list of Carolina sports with my girlfriend, and we were looking for the stupidest sport we could to make fun of,” he said. “We found underwater hockey and started laughing immediately.”

“When we looked it up and started watching videos, I actually thought maybe this was made for me. It matched up with all of my other skill sets, and I despise running with a fiery passion.”

Niccum said players’ struggles under the water bring them closer together as a team.

“It’s in the medium I like, it’s really intense and you have an amazingly solid connection with all of your teammates,” Niccum said.

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