Interview with Matt Maida. Director of Communications for the FGCU Hockey Team

Me: Do you or have you ever played hockey before?

Matt: Yes, I played hockey. I played for FGCU.

Me: Are the players mostly from South Florida or from around the country?

Matt: Half and half. Half are players are from Florida and the other half are from the northeast part of the United States or Canada.

Me: Who are the coaches and where have they coach previously?

Matt: For both teams, or just for division II?

Me: Both.

Matt: The division II coach is Bob Brickworth. He coached all types of hockey, Coach Brickworth, has coached little caesars in Detroit. He played professional hockey in the IHL and you can get coach Brinkworth’s entire biography on our website.

http://www.fgcuhockey.net/d2-coaches/

Me: How often to teams get ice time to practice?

Matt: The teams practice twice a week. Each team practices twice a week for two hours.

Me: Can you explain the division II and division III teams. How different are they?

Matt: Obviously division II is a better quality of hockey; that’s our top team. Division III team is the next step down. The difference is we pick all the better and the best players for the division II team and the remaining players go on the division III team, but both very competitive. There both ranked number 1 nationally.

Me: How many players are on each team?

Matt: About 25 players per team.

Me: Besides Germain and Coral Springs, where else do you play locally?

Matt: That’s it.

Me: What are the furthest schools you travel too?

Matt: We go all over the United States. We’ve been as far as San Jose, New York, Boston, Chicago. It doesn’t matter. Wherever the teams are, we travel.

Me: Are there any players on scholarship?

Matt: No, its not allowed.

Me: How are the crowds at the games?

Matt: We usually get about 750 people per game on average.

Me: Do you ever scrimmage with the Everglades?

Matt: No.

Me: Are any former players in minor league hockey?

Matt: Yea, we got about five to ten players playing professional hockey right now, Alumni.

Me: Have there been any players that have transported to a division I program?

Matt: not that I know of. It is possible

Me: How do I get tickets for a game?

Matt: How do you get tickets for a game? You personally, or anyone?

Me: Anyone

Matt: They just come to the rink and buy them at the door. Five dollars. And students are free. FGCU students are free with ID.

Me: Is there anything different about the equipment that you guys have to wear from the NHL level?

Matt: Nope, same equipment.

Me: How are the ice conditions playing in Florida?

Matt: Germain arena’s ice is just as good as anywhere else in the world.

Me: What do you think of hockey in Southwest Florida?

Matt: Hockey in southwest Florida is a lot better than people give it credit for. In fact, the minor hockey league infrastructure and programs are better than a lot of traditional hockey teams. They have grown tremendously in the past decade. You have already seen some players in the NHL coming from Florida and your going to see a lot more in the future.

Me: How long have you been with this program?

Matt: Since it started.

Me: What is the ultimate goal for the future?

Matt: We want to keep growing. We want to possibly move one of the programs to ACHA division1. There may be an opportunity in the future with partnerships from local sponsors and universities. There may be an opportunity to explore an NCAA Division I hockey program and ultimately we also want to improve our brand. We now have a real captive market in the Southwest Florida community for FGCU hockey. There is no reason why in the future as the university grows, we cant be getting three to four thousand fans per game and playing in the main bowl of Germain Arena.

Me: What has been your team’s greatest accomplishment?

Matt: We’ve won the national championship in division II both in 2012 and 2016. I think are biggest accomplishment is being able to create a successful college hockey program that is easily in the conversation for the best run hockey program at ACHA level in the entire country.

Me: You guys are going to the playoffs?

Matt: Were heading to the nationals for both teams. Thy both received auto bids and are going to Columbus Ohio for the National Championships in March.