Background

The Drexel University Roller Hockey Club (DURHC) was originally founded in the early 1990s as the Drexel University Inline Team (DUIT), a club organized to promote inline skating, particularly so-called aggressive, trick skating. Members of DUIT who were interested in roller hockey formed an e-mail list to arrange pick-up hockey games on the basketball courts on campus. Eventually, roller hockey overcame inline skating altogether, and the club shifted its focus.

Led by early club officers Rick Luzietti and Shay Marlin, Drexel University entered its first team into intercollegiate competition with the inaugural season of the Philadelphia Collegiate Roller Hockey League (PCRHL) in 1998-99, competing with two teams in the league. In the first PCRHL season, the long standing rivalry between the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University emerged for the first time in the sport of roller hockey, as the two teams clashed several times throughout the season.

The following year, Drexel University for the first time participated in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA), a traveling regional collegiate league which awards bids to the National Championship Tournament organized by the Collegiate Roller Hockey League (CRHL). Drexel finished their debut season in the ECRHA ranked 11th of 19 teams, and again participated in the second season of the PCRHL.

Over the years, the club has grown exponentially in both member involvement and in university support. In 2000, the DURHC organized an on-campus intramural league, with games played in the National Guard Armory. This, along with the three intercollegiate teams organized by the club, boosted player involvement to well over 65 members, becoming one of the largest sport clubs at Drexel. Generous funding from Drexel University throughout the club’s existence have helped build one of the most well-organized collegiate roller hockey programs in the nation. In 2001, Drexel became one of the first colleges to offer paid roller hockey coaching positions, and in 2002, the university allocated $14,500 in funding to support the DURHC.