When someone from the North thinks about sports in the South, the first collegiate sport that usually comes to their mind is football. But on the University of South Carolina's campus, a club sport has quickly become a pregame phenomenon for all weekend activities. That is the South Carolina Club Hockey team, also known as cock hockey.
The players on the ice aren't the only ones who make it happen — there are many people behind the scenes who make it one of the most fun student life activities.
“It really has become a part of, I would say, campus life,” third-year sports and entertainment management student and public address announcer Luc LaPointe said. “Now it's become, 'Okay, Friday's, you tryna make it out to the Plex now and watch our boys play?'"
Hockey has been a part of LaPointe’s life for as long as he can remember. Growing up a Boston Bruins fan, he watched a lot of broadcasts on NESN, listening to Jack Edwards, the longtime play-by-play announcer for the team.
When he steps behind the microphone, he uses the energy that Edwards portrayed as motivation. The role of the public address announcer is more than just announcing what is happening on the ice, but to get the crowd excited.
“He just brings this energy to the game that just, it spreads. And it just makes you just so excited about hockey,” LaPointe said. “I want people to be as excited about the game as I am.”
LaPointe is also the DJ for cock hockey, so in intermissions, he keeps the crowd alive.
In his spare time, LaPointe is a member of Sigma Psi Mu, a sport and entertainment business fraternity at the university. He isn’t the only person behind the scenes of cock hockey that is a member though, as manager and third-year sport and entertainment management student, Lauren Barth, is as well.
While rushing the fraternity in the spring of 2020 and members asked her what she wanted to do in the future, she always said she wanted to work in hockey. This ultimately led her to Teegan Vangellow, the then-manager of the club. Over the next year, the two become close.
“I did an interview with her, which almost felt silly because we already knew so much about our experiences together,” Barth said. “Eventually, she officially gave me the offer.”
Throughout the week, Barth is communicating with the other team's staff to make sure everything is ready for game day.
On game days, she is usually one of the first at the rink. Barth's roles range from getting both the rink and her own staff set up, to doing paperwork, making sure fans are controlled, prepping for the special events and more.
“It’s fun work and it's absolutely worth it, especially for a team that's getting so big at school,” Barth said.
She also works closely with her own staff of players, many of whom have behind-the-scenes roles. Junior goalie Liam Gormley has been the team's social media director since the beginning of the season.
Social media is not a new thing to Gormley on the University of South Carolina campus, as he works for Barstool UofSC. He said he carried aspects of that role into this one and that is a big reason why the Instagram page has more than 7,300 followers.
While there are graphic designers and photographers working alongside him, he's the one who puts it out to the audience.
“It’s awesome,” Gormley said. “It’s something I never imagined when I decided to go to school here.”