For all of the students that don’t know about SMU’s hockey team, there will soon be plenty of reason to start talking. Tryouts are over and practices are starting. The Ponies on ice meet every Wednesday at The Rink in Addison. Game times and the location are new to the Mustangs this year and team vice president Garett Chisum is excited about the change.

“The rink is great and we play at prime times on Saturday night,” Chisum said. “We hope that students will come out to the 7:30 p.m. games and then stay afterward and hang out with the team.”

The Mustangs have plenty of new faces this season. New club president Brent Ozenbaugh brought in new head coach Steve La Mere and plenty of freshman recruits.

La Mere played briefly with the Dallas Sabres in the Gulf Coast Hockey League last year and also coaches at the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Valley Ranch.

Chisum is pleased with the moves made in order to get a new coach.

“We are really excited about coach La Mere taking over the program,” Chisum said. “He has been in and around hockey all of his life and he knows what he is doing.”

The Ponies are starting to look like one of the teams that should be taken seriously in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. The ACHA considers the college teams to be the equivalent of NCAA Division III.

This season the 10-team conference consists of Houston, Texas A&M, Baylor, North Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, SMU, Oklahoma and Midland Odessa Collegiate. Other colleges such as Kansas State, Southwest Texas and Tulsa hope to join the league in the near future.

Chisum believes that there will be quality hockey played throughout the season.

“There are a bunch of really good colleges in this league,” Chisum said. “We want the students at SMU to realize that we have formed a really good team and have a chance to go far this season.”

The Ponies finished in fourth place last season and are looking to improve this season. Chisum is excited about the possibilities of the upcoming season.

“We are a much better team than we were last year,” Chisum said. “We hope that the school will recognize us as a team that is a good representative of SMU.”

If the Mustangs are fortunate enough to finish in the top two spots in their division they will receive an invitation to a collegiate tournament that will take place in Corpus Christi over spring break.

The Mustangs’ first home game is Oct. 19 against Texas Tech at The Rink in Addison.

For questions, game times or more information visit their Web site at people.smu.edu/hockey.