This past weekend, the Drury Mirror attended the first home series of the men’s ice hockey season. Coming off a 4-0 road run, the Ice Panthers were looking to earn two more wins this weekend. This year’s success comes after a total refresh following the Ice Panthers’ disappointing first season, where they ended 8-17. The refresh creators are the new coaching staff Drury University gained from city rivals, Missouri State University, Head Coach Jermey Law, and Assistant Coach Cliff Cook. Both Law and Cook have had tremendous success at Missouri State and hope to lead the Ice Panthers in a new direction. Coach Law and Coach Cook join returning Assistant Coach Brett Loethen, in addition, their roster gained 13 new players from Canada and the United States.

In their first home series, the Ice Panthers fell in both games to the ACHA Division II Maryville Saints. In Friday’s matchup, they battled hard, eventually losing 6 to 2. Despite the results not going as intended, Friday night’s turnout far exceeded expectations.

In coordination with the hockey game, Drury cheer and the Drury band attended, performing throughout the game and in between periods. The student section on the ground level was packed. Some students were standing on the bleachers while many more pressed their faces against the glass, hoping to get a glimpse of the Ice Panthers. There was even a group of shirtless college students with red-painted bodies. Neil Cerrato, a junior defenseman, said “[the atmosphere] was unreal and it reminded [him] of high school hockey”.

This brings up the question, is ice hockey Drury’s football? They had the fan turnout, the cheerleaders, and even the band.

Success is still a work in progress, but the student and community interest could be the start of something. When asked, Kaitlin Peterson, a senior at Drury said, “If people actually showed up [to support], I feel like they could be our football”. Cerrato echoed that sentiment by saying, “Yeah after it gets more popular…it’s a battle between us and basketball”.

Drury did have a football team. It began in 1890, as a solution to an “intense game of capture the flag between rival classes” that was driving the Board of Trustees crazy reported Deliliah Gadd in 2018 for the Mirror, so the university gave the students football. The growing interest in football led to the creation of a homecoming event in 1924. Unfortunately, the football program would be disbanded in 1932, “just 42 years after its development,” said Gadd. The annual homecoming traditions have since been passed to women’s and men’s basketball.

So, is ice hockey becoming the new Drury football? Only time will tell, but the future is bright on ice.

The Ice Panthers’ next series is against SIUE on Friday, October 13th at 7 p.m. and October 14th at 6 p.m. All home games are played at Jordan Valley Ice Park.