“Practice makes perfect.” Odds are, everyone has heard those words at some point in their life. No matter the subject, practice is the first step on the path to mastery. After all, how are you supposed to achieve greatness if you don’t have the opportunity to improve?
This is the question that second-year College student Avery Buchanan and the rest of the Virginia women’s club ice hockey team have grappled with since the demolition of Main Street Arena, Charlottesville’s lone ice rink, in 2018. Without a place to practice regularly, “perfection” is still just a pipedream — one that they are well on their way to despite the challenges of being a small club team without an easily accessible practice facility.
Buchanan, a Maine native, has been playing hockey as long as she could remember. The ice is her second home, and for good reason — when her parents attended Virginia, they had their first date at Main Street Arena. No one was surprised when Buchanan gravitated towards skates instead of cleats or running shoes.
Although she did not begin playing organized hockey until the fifth grade, much of Buchanan’s childhood was spent skating on a pond behind her house or playing pickup hockey games with her neighbors. In high school, six out of seven afternoons were dedicated to practice, while the offseason was spent visiting schools as part of the collegiate recruiting process.
Buchanan ultimately chose to attend Virginia rather than play collegiate hockey, but the club team’s talent and pedigree was far from a downgrade. During a visit to the University in the fall of her senior year, Buchanan met with then-presidents Olivia Sliwa and Sarah Ettinger, whose positive experiences with the team reinforced her decision.
A year after its founding in 1999, Virginia Women’s Club Hockey kicked off its inaugural season as part of the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League, a subconference of the American Collegiate Hockey Association. In the 25 years since, Virginia has become a perennial powerhouse in the ACCHL, winning five championship titles and regularly dominating opponents such as High Point, Virginia Tech, West Chester and more. However, that dominance has faltered since the team lost its primary practice location.
When Main Street Arena officially closed, the team’s progress stalled. For years, the ride to practice consisted of a short five minute drive through downtown Charlottesville. After 2018, that short commute shifted drastically — the closest rink available for large-scale use is Liberty University’s LaHaye Ice Center, over an hour from the University. Something as simple as practicing with the team suddenly became a Herculean endeavor.
The team has not allowed the distance to become a deterrent, but it has undeniably altered the team’s ability to operate at the same capacity as in the past. Although the time commitment for club sports is inherently less than that of varsity athletics, a complete lack of practice is far from ideal for any team, least of all one as competitive as Virginia’s.
“It’s been really nice that I can focus on my academics and other social life,” Buchanan said. “But I would love to practice [more].”
Aside from the distance, another difficulty the team has faced is money. At the club level, funding is provided from the University for necessities such as renting space or travel costs, but everything else is provided by the team — usually through annual dues that can be raised or lowered depending on the team’s finances.
For club sports such as soccer or tennis, those dues can go towards luxuries such as media day or new uniforms, but in a notoriously expensive sport like ice hockey — on average, casual and intermediate players spend $80–$200 per item — wiggle room is minimal to nonexistent.
To make matters more complicated, while Buchanan and many of her teammates played in high school, many members of the club are new to the sport and may not have their own equipment. For them to participate, new equipment must be purchased, raising club dues further. Developing an inexperienced team is difficult when the accompanying costs are sky-high.
“[I]t’s tough sometimes when we play a team like High Point or even Liberty, who … have buckets of money that go towards their club sports,” Buchanan said. “And here we are, you know, rolling up in carpools.”
As polarizing as those differences can be, the team put on an incredible performance the past year, earning the title of ACCHL Regular Season Champions and winning the ACCHL Fall Classic for the second consecutive year against rival Virginia Tech. Former senior forward Olivia Sliwa — who has since graduated — ranked 11th nationally among top scorers for the 2024-25 season, while Buchanan and fellow sophomore forward Sam Battaglia were among the top five forwards in the Fall Classic. Sophomore goalkeeper Tess Cleary, then a freshman, ranked within the top 25 nationally and was the MVP in the Fall Classic.
Beyond their performance on the ice, the team functioned as a built-in support system for Buchanan and her fellow first-year students as they navigated the trials and tribulations of the college transition. As soon as she joined the team, Buchanan gained a second family — one that has been vital to her time at the University.
“I feel so lucky that I not only found the team, but I think it’s been such a nice backbone to have, especially, like, first year in college,” Buchanan said. “I think it can definitely be overwhelming, and that was just like, a small, like, tight knit community … that I was able to, like, lean on.”
The team’s stock has only risen with the announcement of a new ice rink that will be located just outside Charlottesville in Greene County. Although it will be several years before construction is completed, the prospect of being able to practice more than once a week is an exciting one. After six and a half years of challenging logistics, Virginia women’s club ice hockey has a bright future ahead.
Most of all, Buchanan emphasized the importance of developing the sport — especially in areas like Charlottesville that may not have the resources to support players. As the club grows in talent and renown, she hopes the University and its students will take notice of their hard work and get invested in ice hockey.
“I'm really hopeful about this entire team and program…taking it to the next level,” Buchanan said. “I feel really lucky that I'm in this position to hopefully…inspire young girls to… continue to pursue their passions.”
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