Over the past few years, defenseman Christian Romeo has had a front-row seat to watching the Clemson club ice hockey program develop. In fact, the graduate student noted that watching the growth of the program he loves has been one of his fondest memories as a Tiger.

“From where we were when I was a freshman to now, from an organizational standpoint, and if you see us on the ice, we look way better now than we did then,” Romeo said in an interview with The Tiger. “I would say my best memory from Clemson overall is just the growth that we had as a team and as a program.”

The graduate student began playing hockey at age 3 because his father, who never played, loved the sport. Romeo fell in love with the game while playing in a house league at the rink near his childhood home, and after winning his first-ever championship with his two best friends at his side, he knew he’d never be the same.

“It was the greatest feeling ever,” Romeo said.

Years later, he knew he wanted to go to a school that had “a sport he could root for when he graduated,” which led him to Clemson. Little did he know he’d fall in love with a club team he would root for forever.

“When I was younger, the hockey program was way less organized,” Romeo added. “I think it was taken way less seriously. We still had guys missing games when I was a freshman for other stuff … now we really don’t have that anymore.”

In addition to players taking the team more seriously, Romeo recognizes that the overall talent, group synergy and campus recognition have grown exponentially throughout his career.

“The skill and the talent of the team have definitely improved. I also think with the team overall, each year we get more and more close-knit as a group,” he said. “Everyone’s always been super nice and super inclusive, but now everyone wants to see each other all the time. It was definitely more exclusive when I was younger.”

He added that on campus, people now know that Clemson has a hockey team.

“Not everyone, but a lot of people do, whereas when I was a freshman, and I would tell people I played club hockey, they’d say, ‘We have a hockey team?’ They had no idea. Now, they usually know someone, or know someone who knows someone,” Romeo told The Tiger.

The alternate captain noted that being a part of the club hockey team shaped his Clemson experience in more ways than one, primarily because of the time commitment, friendships and team pride.

“It’s a time commitment, so it’s definitely something you have to consider,” he explained. “I don’t want to say it’s like an identity thing, but it also is. It’s like a patch you wear on your sleeve, like ‘I’m part of the hockey team.’ You’re proud of it. And it definitely structures you.

“You have to commit to the practices, commit to the games and get all your schoolwork done. Obviously, you’re a student first, so you have to get your stuff done in order to play, or go on the trips and enjoy them, or else you won’t enjoy it or won’t play,” Romeo continued.

Much like he experienced during his tenure, the defenseman anticipates immense growth for the program over the next few seasons.

“I think it’ll grow a lot,” Romeo said. “If you look at it from when I started to now, it’s completely different. And then if you look at it from guys who were there before me and were seniors when I was a freshman, it was entirely different at that point.

“It just continues to grow. If you asked this question to them four years ago, they would have said the same thing … club hockey is growing in general, and that definitely helps grow the Clemson program, because you have to keep up if you want to be competitive and play games,” he continued.

Romeo hopes to have made as significant an impact on his teammates as they’ve had on him.

“I always tried to make it clear that I’m always available to talk or do anything for them, on the ice, off the ice, whatever. I tried to always be open and honest with them, too, as a loyal person and someone they could depend on. If they ever need anything, I’m always a phone call away.”

After graduation, he hopes to work for a private practice doing mental health counseling for athletes.

“My oldest sister is a mental health counselor, so that was where I got steered into the field, specifically psychology … I’ve had my own mental health struggles in the past, and I felt like, if there’s such a need for it, and it’s also something I’m passionate about, I should do that,” he told The Tiger.

Romeo is a graduate student from Rockville Centre, New York.