While the Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey may be the most celebrated athletic club at the university, it lacks one thing that several other BU sports clubs have: cheerleaders.
Several members of the BU Figure Skating Team are looking to fill this void, performing for hockey fans during intermissions at men’s hockey games at Agganis Arena.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Michelle Padreza, a member of the BU Figure Skating Team, performed with several other members of the team during the first intermission of the men’s hockey game against University of Vermont on Saturday.
“I always wanted to form a sort of dance team on ice, since the hockey games do not have cheerleading or dance performances at them,” Padreza said. “I am striving to make this a permanent occurrence at the games.”
Padreza said she got the idea from other universities that have on-ice cheerleading squads.
“I read an article in skating magazine about the University of Minnesota’s hockey cheerleaders,” Padreza said. “They are a group of figure skaters who are able to do figure skating moves and cheer at the same time.”
College of Arts and Science freshman Valerie Aw, who performed with Padreza on Saturday, said the routine was completely prepared by the students.
While training for their cheerleading performance at the hockey game, the figure skaters worked without a coach, but Padreza filled this role in certain capacities, said CAS freshman Livana Koznessoff.
“We did do this without an official coach but Michelle really took the place of one and did a great job at it, we would not have been able to do it with out her,” Koznessoff said.
Padreza said that she hopes to continue to perform cheerleading routines during intermissions of hockey games, and eventually get the group officially approved by the university.
“I think having hockey cheerleaders is a great idea since we do not have any, and would be a lot of fun,” Padreza said.
Members of the BUFS team began practicing on-ice cheer and dance routines last semester, with the hope of performing at hockey games, Padreza said.
“The team has been practicing on ice and off ice at least twice a week since last semester,” Padreza said. “ They are such a hard working group of girls, I couldn’t possibly have done this without all their support and effort.”
CAS freshman Emily Theurer said that performing in front of the crowd at Agganis Arena was unlike any skating performance she had previously taken part in.
“I have skated in competitions and different ice shows, but I have never done anything like this before,” Theurer said. “It was a new and great experience.”
Aw said it that seeing the team’s performance come together on Saturday night was satisfying.
“We did this completely on our own, coming up with the routine, the outfits, and the music as one group without any coaching,” Aw said. “It makes what we did more about us and the girls in the group.”
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