From The Peoria Journal Star

By Dave Eminian

Bradley University doesn’t get a lot of attention for its hockey.

Or any, really.

But the university’s club hockey team has reached a big milestone, as the 2018-19 season is its 50th anniversary.

“It goes back to an era where Pete BardezBanian and Mark Olson (both Peoria Rivermen Hall of Fame members) brought hockey to Peoria and established teams here,” said Brian Hamilton, the former Rivermen goaltender and ex-junior hockey Peoria Mustangs assistant who now coaches of one of BU’s two club teams. It all began with those guys. And now here we are, 50 years later.

“We have 45 kids in the program, split into a Div.-II and Div.-III squads, a wide range of talent. These kids pay to play, and they are really dedicated. They work incredibly hard and enjoy the game.”

The D-II team is 9-4-1 and in third place under coach JP Fitzgerald, while Hamilton’s D-III group is 4-4-0 and in third place as well.

“We’re about four goals from being in first place, we’ve lost some close games,” Hamilton said. “It’s been an adjustment for me, coming from coaching junior hockey, where the kids’ goal is to reach college level and hockey is the focus. Here, kids are already in college and that has to be their priority.”

BU plays its home games at Owens Center. The D-II team next plays there on Jan. 11, against Illinois State. The D-III team hosts Robert Morris University at Owens on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12.

All of those games start at midnight. Yep, midnight. You gotta love to play the game.

(Originally published at https://www.pjstar.com/sports/20181208/cleve-in-eve-bu-team-reaches-50th-anniversary)