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TSU is getting even cooler. Say hello to the nation’s first HBCU ice hockey team.

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Courtesy of Tennessee State University
With TSU's announcement of the 2021 study, the university shared this image of a hockey stick and puck on ice showing the school's logo.
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Tennessee State University has officially scored the first hockey team at a historically Black college or university.

The school announced the win Wednesday during the events at Bridgestone Arena leading up to the NHL Draft. And it comes after TSU teamed up with the NHL and the Nashville Predators to gauge the feasibility of adding hockey to its athletics department back in 2021.

“This allows us to expand the sport, increase diversity and introduce a new fan base,” TSU President Glenda Glover said in a statement at the time.

TSU says the men’s team will begin play at the club level in 2024, with aspirations of playing NCAA Division I soon and adding a women’s team.

Across the state, just Vanderbilt University, Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee have teams — all of which are men’s squads that play at the club level.

Rachel Iacovone, Director of Multiplatform Publishing

Rachel Iacovone (YAH-kuh-VOAN-ee) is WPLN's Director of Multiplatform Publishing, which is a long way of saying she leads all the ways the news reaches you (this website, social media, This Is Nashville and more). She began her public radio career covering politics in Florida during the 2016 presidential race. In 2019, Rachel came to Nashville as a local Morning Edition, and later All Things Considered, host before her passion for data deep dives, visualizations, photography and social media storytelling pulled her off air and put her online fully.

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