Since the fall of 2004, Goshen College has been competing on more than soccer fields, baseball diamonds, tracks and basketball courts. For five years, students, faculty, staff, alumni and several others have been competing in the South Bend Senior Hockey League, a non-collegiate ice hockey league.
According to Jason Yoder, a veteran team member and 2008 graduate of Goshen College, the team began as a roller hockey club dubbed Association of Mennonites for Ice and Steet Hockey – A.M.I.S.H. for short – established by James Heibert in 1999. After some generated interest, members of the club gathered modest funding from Goshen College. In order to sustain the club, each member of the hockey team now pays a $300 entry fee.“The hockey team is worth the fee because of the friendships [and] skating on the ice,” said Michal Grepl, a senior. “It’s all priceless.”
Currently, the team roster consists of 13 individuals including Goshen College students Michal Grepl, a senior; Andrew Buschert, a sophomore; Isaac Smith, a senior; and John Ross Buschert, professor of physics.
With a current record of 11-7, the hockey team will travel to South Bend for their last game of the season against Zahoran Funeral Home on Thursday.
This match marks the last game Yoder will play before he leaves for graduate school in the fall.
“The last two years has been a blast, and I’ll miss it next year,” Yoder said.
The A.M.I.S.H. roller hockey club from which the ice hockey team carries its roots continues to meet in the Union gym at 9:00 p.m. on Mondays.
