The USF Ice Bulls hockey team is headed to the American Collegiate Hockey Association Nationals.

In the club's 28-year existence it is just their 3rd trip to the tournament and first since 2001.

This group's chances of qualifying seemed slim to none until an impressive late-season surge.

"It’s been unbelievable," said team captain Danny Hoeflich.  "It’s be a lot of fun. It’s been a crazy journey."

Crazy, as in a 1-10 start to the season.

"Beginning of the year, all my friends were like ‘How’s the hockey team doing?,'" said freshman forward Kenny Weightman.  "It’s like, ughhhhh. We’re doing alright.  We’ll make it through."

Make it through they did, but they didn’t make it easy on themselves.

"A trip to Nationals I would say was kinda of a reach," said Hoeflich, a Lyman High School graduate from Orlando.  "We still believed, I still believe that we were a really good team with a lot of skill."

All that skill showed up February 3rd against the University of Florida.  They crushed the Gators 8-2 in front of over 700 fans.  It was standing room only at their brand new home rink in Wesley Chapel, Florida Hospital Center Ice.  

"This team need confidence and I think that just kinda of gave it to us," said Hoeflich"

"I would catch them every once and a while looking up at the stands themselves," said head coach Michael Canacari.  "I think that they wanted to prove they had a shot at the Regionals and they were gonna play their hearts out and they did."

After that game against UF, the Ice Bulls charged down the stretch going 6-1.  They won Regionals (beating South Carolina 1-0, and Liberty University 6-3) and qualified for the 16-team ACHA DIII National Tournament.

USF is a club team, so there are no NCAA scholarships for motivation, just pure heart and soul.

"It’s not just club," said Weightman.  "We’re playing a high level of hockey than most people would see in the Florida area. We pull just as many people as the NCAA basketball team."

"I mean all these guys want to be here, wanna play and everyone’s gonna run through a brick wall for everybody," said Hoeflich.

"We’re living it down here," said Wegihtman.  "You can go right from the ice rink to the beach within 25 minutes. You can’t beat that."

Well, maybe a national title would.

The university only partially backs the club financially, so they have set up a Go Fund Me account to help get them to Nationals.

If you want to donate click here.

The team is trying to raise $15,000 or $750 per player to cover costs.

Nationals Schedule in Columbus, Ohio:

Tue, Mar 14 at 7:45pm: USF vs Calvin College
Wed, Mar 15 at 5:00pm: USF vs Farmingdale State College
Thu, Mar 16 at 1:45pm: USF vs Colorado State
Fri, Mar 17 at 8:30pm: Semifinals - TBD
Sat, Mar 18 at 7:30pm: Finals - TBD