Caitlin Hogan leads Arizona Wildcats’ revival of women’s hockey in Tucson

When Caitlin Hogan, a lifelong hockey player and Division I standout,
saw that the University of Arizona was building a women’s hockey
program, she reached out to offer her expertise to the burgeoning team
in any way she could.

By the time Hogan contacted the school to extend her services, its
national search for a hockey coach was already underway. But after Troy
Vaughn, the director of campus recreation, and Chad Berman, the men’s
ice hockey coach, met with Hogan, the hunt was over.

“She (Hogan), by far and away, rose to the top,” Vaughn said.

The university officially hired Hogan to coach the women’s hockey
team in May 2023. At the time, Hogan, Vaughn and Berman thought they
were building the original Wildcats women’s team but soon discovered
that the 2024 Wildcats were descendants, not pioneers. From 1999 to
2007, the school had its first women’s hockey team, Wildcat Icers.

The 2024 Wildcats play in Division I of the American Collegiate
Hockey Association, where they compete in the Western Women’s Collegiate
Hockey League. The Wildcats take a 1-4 record into Sunday’s home game
against the University of Utah.

“I have girls from Canada, the East Coast, Minnesota, all coming down
here,” Hogan said. “They now are the role models for any of these young
girls in town because we haven’t had women’s ice hockey in Tucson in a
very, very long time.”

After Hogan and Vaughn discovered the history of the Icers, they
scheduled a Zoom call to meet with the alumni and learn more about the
team’s origin. The coach recalled noticing the similarities between the
experiences of the former and current teams.

The Icers managed their fundraising and generated support for their
events. Hogan and her players are also in charge of fundraising and
other team operations.

“It sparks this resurrection for us that originally participated,”
Tamara Hefferon, the Icers former team president, said of the program’s
revival.

In 1999, while the school hosted a club night at the recreation
center, Hefferon and Erin Dehmlow, the former team vice president, came
across a booth promoting the new women’s ice hockey team.

Ben Ladrido, the Icers founder and former coach, was one of the people promoting the program that night.

“Tami and I had no background in ice hockey, but he (Ladrido) said it wasn’t a requirement,” Dehmlow recalled.

“Not many young girls get into the sport unless they have a brother
or cousin or somebody that plays,” Hogan said…