Among the many club sports at Clemson, few boast a more loyal and caring audience than the ice hockey team. For all the ice Tigers out there: let’s get caught up with Clemson ice hockey.
Despite a tough opening schedule, the Tigers played well through two months and now find themselves ranked No. 8 in the first American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III ranking.
Should Clemson remain in the top 16 on the ACHA rankings by the end of the season, it will receive an invitation to the Men’s Division III Nationals in St. Louis, Missouri, in March.
In the wake of its two most successful recent seasons, Clemson club ice hockey faced a dilemma this year: filling the large, vacant skates of last year’s leaders. The Tigers graduated 10 seniors following the 2024-25 season.
“We are really looking to get off on the right foot this year,” Will Ralsten, the team’s vice president and forward, told The Tiger. “With last year being a condensed season and then over the summer having a lot of shakeup in the landscape of our league, we wanted to focus on hitting the ice hard and starting on a positive note.”
The Tigers walked into the 2025-26 season on the heels of two consecutive 10-win seasons with high expectations and no easy route ahead of them. Nonetheless, the team had its eyes set on one thing: a championship.
“Looking further down the road, it’s our team’s goal to win College Hockey South playoffs this year,” Ralsten said. “Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve been competing right (at the) top and made runs in playoffs, but just haven’t pulled it off yet. This is going to be our year.”
As expected, Clemson had a turbulent start through eight games this year. The Tigers, 4-4-0, 3-4-0 ACHA, were swept to begin the season.
The current ACHA No. 1, Middle Tennessee State, 9-0-0, handed Clemson two losses back in mid-September, 9-4 and 5-0.
MTSU has been the best in class of the College Hockey South conference for years, and while the Tigers defeated the Blue Raiders the previous year, the sweep was no demoralizer.
The team instead refocused with a cross-divisional matchup against Florida a week later. Clemson defeated the Gators at home, 5-1. Although the win did not count toward the Tigers’ overall ACHA record, it helped build positive momentum heading into October.
The get-right game worked wonders, as Clemson swept Alabama in a home series on the first weekend of the month.
In the second of the two games, junior winger Will Van Sicklin added a highlight-reel goal, banking a goal-line shot off the Alabama goaltender’s helmet and into the net.
The Tigers rolled over the Crimson Tide when all was said and done, 3-2 and 5-2, gaining their first conference wins of the season and increasing their win streak to three.
However, every streak exists to be broken. Clemson’s was snapped at the hands of its biggest rival, South Carolina. The Gamecocks had won every single matchup since March 2019 and every Palmetto Cup since the 2016-17 season.
The first of this season’s matchups of the Palmetto Cup was no different.
The ACHA Division II Gamecocks trounced the Tigers in their first road contest on Oct. 17, 7-0.
Clemson has another shot at the Palmetto Cup in the spring, where the winner of the Jan. 24 matchup will take home the coveted trophy.
The Tigers will also face off against South Carolina’s new ACHA Division III squad for the first time, with a home game in late November and an away game in early December. The DIII Gamecocks are No. 7 in the ACHA.
Rivalry frustrations aside, the team had to refocus. The opening whistle blew one short week later in the home series against No. 4 South Florida.
Clemson scored six goals in both games against the Bulls, but only secured a victory in the first of the two games.
After scoring four goals to USF’s zero in the first period of play, Clemson cruised to a 6-3 victory on Oct. 24.
“Our team had a big win against USF last weekend, which was who we lost to in CHS playoffs last year in the semi-finals,” Ralsten said. “That win was big for team morale and proved to us that we are a top team in our league.”
The next day, the Tigers fell just short to the Bulls, 7-6, despite pitching a shutout and scoring thrice in the third period.
The Tigers now look ahead to Nov. 14-15, as they will face off in a two-game away series against Florida Atlantic. Wins would serve them well in the second ACHA Division III rankings, which will be released on Nov. 14.
