The Sharks and Barracuda aren’t the only hockey teams in the area, San José State has its own club hockey team starting a new season soon. 

Founded in 1990, the SJSU club hockey team is a part of the PAC-8 conference, a collegiate men’s ice hockey conference that competes in Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).

Sophomore forward Blake Brehm is beginning his second season with the team.

“It’s not like a normal club sport where you play for fun, it’s competitive,” Brem said. “Joining a team like this allows you to have a lot more friends and connections. I also get to keep playing the sport I love at a competitive level.”

During the 2024-25 season, SJSU finished 13-9-0 and made the playoffs but lost in the second round against the University of Washington. 

Assistant coach Chris Dysart  played as forward for the team from the 2019-20 season to 2024-25. 

“We’re a very young group – We can grow and be ready to compete by the end of the season, I would still expect us to make the playoffs,” Dysart said. 

The Spartans had a 9-2 home record that helped propel them into the postseason. 

They also recently appointed Robert Burden as their new head coach in August.

Freshman forward Ian Woods said SJSU’s preparation has been important and helped the players improve as the first game approaches. 

“He’s (Burden) been doing great, we’re running some drills that are going to be super helpful for the season, just understanding the guys we have and how we can implement them in the system to win as many games as possible,” Woods said. 

Brehm has confidence that his team will progress throughout the season as he and other younger players get more experience while enjoying the moment. 

“We have a younger team, some people have large shoes to fill – I think we’ll be able to handle it, it’ll be fun to see,” Brehm said.

The Spartans have 10 players on the roster who are underclassmen going into the season.  

The club has practices Tuesday through Thursday mornings and the players are committed to the sport.

“We’ve been practicing ever since school started – We’re on the ice like five days a week, usually even more than that because we want to get some training off the ice on non practice and gamedays,” Brehm said. 

For players like Woods, who is originally from San Diego, this club has helped him with his transition to SJSU and develop friendships. 

“We have a solid group of guys, they’ve all been super welcoming, especially me being a new guy. It’s a tight-knit group and that’s a recipe for winning games when you know your teammates on and off the ice.”

The group has a culture to it that has players wanting to stay a part of it that even after Dysart’s career concluded, he wanted to still be involved.

“We are trying to win our division which I wasn’t able to do as a player, but hopefully can help these guys as a coach,” Dysart said

The team has two leading scorers that are returning to the team which are forwards Blake Brehm and Kenneth Brown.
Brehm had 17 goals to pair with 16 assists and had 33 points last season. 

Brown led the team in assists with 28 to go with his 15 goals and 43 points.

The Spartans hope to find another leader in scoring since three of their top five leading scorers have concluded their SJSU hockey careers.

“The guys (veteran players) have been on the team for so long and they’re paving the way for the new guys like me,” Woods said.

Not many students are aware of an ice hockey team at SJSU, even though it plays not too far from campus at Sharks Ice. 

“It’s an overlooked sport here. A lot of people didn’t even know we had a team,” Dysart said.

The Spartans begin their season on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Sharks Ice against rival University of California, Berkeley.