A new University of Arizona women's hockey team took to the ice for its first game on Sept. 26, marking the first time since 2007 that the university has had a competitive women's team in the sport.  

Although the Wildcats lost 2-1 to Grand Canyon University, head coach Caitlin Hogan says the game was a win for the hockey program and for the university's Campus Recreation division, even before the team hit the ice.

"This was everything I could have hoped for tonight," Hogan said after the game at the Tucson Convention Center. "Sure, we would have loved to win, but we put together a lot of pieces we have been working on in practice. The team is still getting to know the systems and getting comfortable playing with one another. All things considered, we are in a great place for only having seven practices under our belt."

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The process of developing the new team began nearly three years ago when the university joined officials from Pima County and the planning, design and construction firm Knott Development to announced plans for the Mosaic Quarter Iceplex at the county's Kino Sports Complex. The iceplex is slated for completion in 2026.

"That's where this all started for me," said senior director of Campus Recreation Troy Vaughn. "It was, 'Hey we've got this facility. How can we leverage this to improve campus recreation programs?' The men's hockey team has been around and successful for decades and given the surge in women's hockey in Arizona and across the nation, adding a women's team was an obvious choice. It was our time to do this."

Hogan, a former All-American for Minnesota's St. Cloud State University and a two-time U.S. Olympian in both hockey and weightlifting, moved to California after her competitive career ended. She spent several years establishing a successful athletic training business there before moving to Tucson to be near her in-laws. Not long after arriving in the Old Pueblo, she spotted the U of A coaching job listed online and applied.

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"I'd been going back and forth (between California and Tucson) for about 10 years, and in the process, I'd become a huge U of A fan," she said. "A little over a year ago, I went to the men's hockey page to buy tickets, and I saw the women's hockey logo. I just happened to be looking for a job at the time. I thought it could be an interesting mix."

Hogan plans to coach this season solo and hold off on hiring any assistants until she can more firmly establish a culture among the players. After that, she plans to seek out candidates who can build on the team's strengths.

"Caitlin has already exceeded expectations. We can go 0-22 with our record and I wouldn't care because it's about building something," Vaughn said. "The great thing about this: There are girls out there who are going to see this team and they're going to see something they'll want to do. We're making a statement."

Arizona Hockey will be primary tenants of the Mosaic Quarter Iceplex 

While Thursday marked the start of a new era for women's hockey at the university, it's not the first time the sport has been listed on Campus Recreation's roster of club sports, which now stands at 33. A previous women's hockey team, the Arizona Icers, competed from 1999 to 2007, when Tucson's only remaining private ice rink shut its doors. Since then, the Tucson Convention Center has served as the only venue for skating sports in Southern Arizona.

The Mosaic Quarter Iceplex will end the local shortage of ice time. Both Arizona Hockey programs will be its primary tenants. 

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"It's going to be incredible to be able to schedule everything on our own time. Right now, we're kind of susceptible to whatever the TCC has going on, which is challenging," Hogan said. "But it's going to be game changing for recruiting. It will put us on par with a lot of Division I programs."

Amenities at the 3,000-seat venue will include locker rooms, an athletic training area, concessions, a 5,000-square-foot pro shop, laundry facilities, a special event space for meetings and more. In addition to providing a home for the hockey teams, the Mosaic Quarter Iceplex will also allow Campus Recreation to offer students several other ice-related activities, including figure skating, intramural sports, informal ice skating and skating lessons. Eventually, it will also be home to a sled hockey program as part of the university's Adaptive Athletics program.

Hogan's initial recruiting class comes largely from traditional hockey hotbeds, with players from Alaska, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and six Canadian provinces. She also landed three Arizonans and Essi Toivanen, a forward from Hyvinkää, Finland.

"The hardest thing is we don't have a past. I wanted a good group of girls with great character, who were reliable and responsible and who can get along together and that will form the foundation of the team," Hogan said. "I think for 80 to 90% of these players, the main reason they came was because this was the first year. They get to set the precedents. They're in charge of making sure this program has a good reputation from the start."

The women's hockey team got its first win on Saturday, defeating the Grand Canyon University Antelopes 5-4 on GCU's home ice in Arcadia, outside of Phoenix. 

This season, the Wildcats will play in the top level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association – Division I – as an independent program, with plans to eventually join the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League Conference. The team's 22-game season, which runs through February, will include a pair of extended road trips to compete against multiple programs in and around Minot, North Dakota, and St. Louis, Missouri. The team will play nine home games at the TCC, as well as a pair of "home" games at a rink in suburban Phoenix. Their competition includes several powerhouse programs, including Denver University, Colorado State University and the University of Massachusetts. 

Information about tickets, schedules and more can be found on the Arizona women's hockey website.