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Michigan State Students Find A Different Way To Play Hockey – Underwater

Underwater Hockey
Kara Keating

The sport of underwater hockey is niche but has a stronghold as one of MSU’s most quirky student activities.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State junior Grayam Hotchkiss, senior Eduardo Gonzalez, and their teammates get together every Tuesday and Thursday night at I.M Circle to put on their flippers, snorkels and grab their less-than foot-long hockey sticks to play underwater hockey. Since they only travel to one tournament a year they play against each other at practice.

When the conversation is brought up on their distinctive activity, they always get the same reaction from people who have never heard of the unique sport.

“They are mostly, ‘What?’ and most people don’t know what it is,” Hotchkiss said. “I usually have to go through a pretty planned spiel that I have now, but everyone is usually super surprised, but very interested.”

In underwater hockey, the players battle for a weighted puck using both sides of a regulation swimming pool to try and score a goal on their opponent. There are no goalies in front of the metal goals, making it easier to see when one is scored.

Unlike ice hockey, the sport is not intended to become aggressive, but some issues still arise during play. Some players have taken fins to the rib, been whacked in the face with sticks and some have even fractured their nose.

“It’s a non-contact sport, so it’s not that aggressive,” Gonzalez said. “In tournaments, some people take it a bit too seriously, but there are also refs to minimize the damage. Some people have gotten hit in the face by the puck, but there are rules in place…”

Some of the players competed in swimming before, while others have only swum for fun. The only requirement to join the water hockey team is to know how to swim.

Hotchkiss became involved with the team after finding it on the MSU club website and went to their table at Sparticipation. He has been on the team since his freshman year.

“I was like, ‘What the hell is underwater hockey?” Hotchkiss said. “I went to a couple of practices and thought this is it. This is the sport for me. It’s just so much fun to play and such a great group of people that are on the team that are some of my best friends now.”

One of the biggest challenges during recruitment is trying to get enough women to stay on the team. The team has three female students on the team, with one or more alumni occasionally joining a practice.

Gonzalez believes sometimes the females could be intimidated from the somewhat aggression of the sport that may arise or other similar issues.

“There’s a lot of guys down there in Speedos so it can be a little bit uncomfortable at time for girls, but honestly we’re all really friendly people here,” Gonzalez said.

MSU is not the only university that offers the sport of underwater hockey.

MSU underwater hockey
Credit Kara Keating
The MSU underwater hockey team preparing to take a dive into the water.

The team travels to different universities across the country to go against different clubs ranging from college students to alumni, who created their own clubs in their hometowns to continue competing. Some of the universities include the Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Marquette.

“It’s pretty unique,” Gonzalez said. “We usually host our own tournament once a year usually. We travel to Illinois, Marquette, and a few different other places and it’s a good time. There’s a lot of older people that continue playing after college and made their own clubs.”

Canada is a popular destination, as there is a larger population of athletes who play the sport there. They face players who play for fun or some who go on to play for the Canadian National team of underwater hockey.

In Hotchkiss’ first season on the team, he learned about the popularity of the sport there and it added to the weirdness and quirkiness of why he continues to love the sport. 

“You get to meet a bunch of different walks of life,” Hotchkiss said. “People that are in their 30s or 40s are still in the game that have been playing much longer than you have. It’s not quite as big here as it is there.”

The team will host its tournament in April, and for Gonzalez, this will be his final season on the team.

For him, this team has brought memories and friends that will last a lifetime.

“Underwater hockey is where I found my true group of friends in college,” Gonzalez said. “Freshman year I made some good friends in the dorms and stuff, but this is definitely, I guess, my family from Michigan State that I’ll be friends with forever.”  

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