Park University Gilbert Director of Athletics Jeff Fore has announced the school has officially moved Ice Hockey from an exploratory phase into a full fledged club program for the 2023-24 school year. Along with this announcement, the Buccaneers are also announcing also have joined the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and will play at the Division II level.
“We are excited to make this announcement,” said Fore. “We have received a lot of interest in the program from student-athletes who want the opportunity to either stay home in Arizona or come to a warm weather area and receive a great liberal arts education.”
The team will be helmed by Jeff Zimmel who is a USA Hockey Level 4 coach who brings over 25 years of hockey coaching experience to Gilbert. For the last five years he has worked for USA Hockey in Minnesota leading their High Performance U14 Elite squad in the state.
Zimmel has helped mentor many players who have gone one to play at the DI level and the NHL including brothers Luke and Casey Middelstedt(University of Minnesota and Buffalo Sabres respectively).
A 1988 graduate of St. Cloud State with a degree in communications, Zimmel recently moved to Arizona from Minnesota and sold the idea of a hockey program to Fore based on the growing popularity of the sport in Arizona, the number of athletes now playing the sport in the state and his background in developing players and young men at the highest levels of the sport.
Zimmel and Park Gilbert will hold another tryout camp this Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Mesa Community Center and has been hosting campus tours on a regular basis. Zimmel is shooting to sign 20-25 players for the 2023-24 school year.
Playing at the ACHA Division II level will give the Park Gilbert the opportunity to play all of the schools in Arizona who also have Division II club programs including Arizona State, Grand Canyon, Northern Arizona and the University of Arizona.
“This is an exciting opportunity not only for me but for hockey players around the country,” said Zimmel. “I am looking forward to the challenge of building a quality collegiate program and mentoring student-athletes to not only be great players, but great people on and off the ice.”
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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