The Stanford Roller Hockey Club, which has existed unofficially for the past two or three years, has recently secured official club status from Stanford. Roller Hockey members said they hope that the possible funding and higher visibility that comes with club status will help them recruit more players, particularly undergraduates. Graduate and post-doctoral students make up a majority of the team.

Last Sunday, the team faced off against other Bay Area roller hockey teams in the First Annual Spring Southbay Hockey Challenge in Sunnyvale.

The Stanford club chose to play a team comprised of local employees from Netscape and America Online.

Stanford team founder Steven Tan, a fourth-year graduate student in biophysics, gave two reasons for the selection.

“They’ve had a team for quite some time that is funded, surprisingly, by their workplace, Netscape / AOL,” Tan said. “In fact, the company has gone so far as building them a hockey rink and equipment room in the parking lot. Also, we’ve known these guys as very competitive and sportsmanlike people.”

Stanford beat Netscape / AOL 23-4.

The team has improved over the course of the season, particularly after being destroyed by UC Berkeley’s varsity A roller hockey team on March 12. Berkeley’s team has been part of the Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League for years.

Tan said he was not surprised by this loss, adding that “the majority of our players have only begun to learn the sport.”

Following their victory against Netscape / AOL, the Stanford club is looking forward to organizing games with other teams around the Bay Area.

“There are countless other roller hockey teams, both independent and affiliated with companies,” Tan said. He added that eventually, the Stanford Roller Hockey Club would like to host a large tournament of its own.

The Stanford Roller Hockey Club was formed by a number of Stanford graduate and undergraduate students who grew up playing roller hockey and missed the sport when they left home, Tan said. Along with engineering graduate student Lawrence Cheung and business student Ben Ho, Tan started playing weekend pick-up games at Escondido Ealementary School. They soon discovered that other Stanford students were playing roller hockey in the parking lots near the Ford Center and Burnham Pavilion and joined up with them.

Game announcements spread through word of mouth, Tan said, and the group grew quickly.

The ASSU denied funding to the team because not enough undergraduate participate. Accordingly, the club is currently trying to secure funding from the Graduate Student Council, Tan said.

He added that many students are discouraged from playing roller hockey at Stanford due to the lack of club equipment and the cost of renting indoor rink time. For these reasons, receiving funding will be instrumental in allowing for the club’s growth, Tan said.

“Now we can claim to be the Stanford Roller Hockey Team versus a bunch of roller hockey guys from Stanford,” said club co-founder Lawrence Chih-Hui Cheung, a fourth-year mechanical engineering graduate student. “It looks better on a jersey.”