Courtesy of Urbana Ice Hockey
Urbana Ice Hockey coach Toby Huesser started coaching the Hawks in 2009, when the previous head coach heard Huesser had moved into the area and asked if wanted to help. Then in 2010, he became head coach. Huesser has a hockey background as he played at Towson University. “The team has 26 players this year which puts Urbana in a good situation because we have a high number of players.” said Huesser. He also said that because the team has grown so much over the years we have started a JV team when we previously only had Varsity.

When he first started coaching in 2009 Gov. Thomas Johnson High School had enough players to form 2 varsity teams and now they don’t have enough to form one. The reason a JV team is needed is because you can only dress 20 players for a game. Some players were going to be scratched for those games, so with the JV team those players can get more ice time instead of watching from the stands.

“Only certain players are allowed to play JV based on age and level of maturation that you play” said Huesser. Some players play more on JV than varsity because of age, and each player can only play a certain number of Varsity games to be eligible for Playoffs.

Huesser’s favorite part of coaching the team is interacting with the players because he enjoys being on the ice. “Helping them become not just better hockey players but better citizens. There’s always life after hockey, so I don’t want them just to become better people on the ice, but also better people after high school. After they graduate I like to find out what they did after they graduated, working, or going to college, so I like the interaction with the kids and the community of Urbana and the families, the atmosphere and being on the ice coaching doing what I love to do,” he said.

The seasons runs from November to February, which involves 12 varsity games and 8 JV games. Urbana also has a 3^rd team that competes in the Sunday Night League. It is a developmental league for players to work on their skills while getting game action.

Students who want to get involved with the club can see the Ice Hockey Club advisor, Social Studies teacher Charlie Hontz. Huesser said that he hears from the players through “word of mouth” that a lot of kids want to play hockey. The club has a Facebook page, website, and twitter page.

“Since we’re a club sport I want them to recognize you guys (the hockey team) just like any other athlete at Urbana High school. You guys deserve to be recognized just like any other football team or Lacrosse team. You guys work hard you deserve the credit just like any other athlete,” said Huesser

Every club sport must follow the same FCPS rules as any varsity sport. Students must have no F’s and a 2.0 GPA for that semester. Over the last 3 years Urbana has finished top 2 in the state not just in athletics but in academics as well. The team finished 1^st in 2014 and 2^nd the last two years in academics. Because of this there were many academic all-stars, which means they finished the semester with a 3.75 GPA or above. So having the team finish in the top 2 really shows that the team takes academics seriously.

“We could be a top team in the state, not just in the County, with the talent we have and the leadership we have I think we can be a very competitive team in the state this year. But one game at a time and we’ll see where that gets us in our conference, the Monocacy Valley Conference, but every game’s important and you have to take every game like it’s your last game, but I think we can be a top ten team in the state if we perform on the ice,” Huesser said.