"Those bills add up," junior defenseman Gracie Anderson said. "All of us are still paying full tuition at Michigan State and we're up against a lot of schools who can give their girls scholarships. We're on an uphill battle when it comes to stuff like that."

Most of the teams in the Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association, or CCWHA, are funded by their respective universities. Michigan State's team is on its own despite being located in Michigan, one of hockey’s biggest hotspots around the world. 

The players attribute the lack of funding to a shortage of team recognition around campus.    

"We come to the rink every day and work our butts off, and nobody even knows that we have a women's hockey team," senior winger Asher Printzen said. "At the end of the day, we're doing exactly what the men are doing, except they're getting everything."

The women also said they don’t receive any of the accommodations the men do. 

"Not even being backed by the Michigan State Athletics really hurts us," Anderson said. "We can't even use the facilities here at Munn. We have to use a visitor locker room and we have to move our bags back and forth every single day. We can't even keep our gear at the rink because, apparently, the men's football team stores their water bottles there during the year. It is extremely unfair."

In 2022, Munn Ice Arena underwent renovations to its weight room, shooting stations, player's lounge, training area and coach offices. The women's team isn’t allowed to use any of those new additions. 

"They got a brand-new facility hand-drawn up and hand-made for the men, and we still have to pay for ice and rent out ice, even though we play the same exact sport they do," fifth year winger Morgan Leib said. "At the end of the day, it just looks like straight sexism."

The team doesn't just want support from MSU athletics, but the student body itself.

"We have such a great arena," Printzen said. "There is absolutely no reason why we can’t and don’t fill up the stands with student fans to support us in our games. We need a student section to support us, boost our confidence and give as another reason to have pride in the university we are representing when we are playing hockey."

First year head coach Theresa DiMaggio has stepped into the helm after the team went 10-12-2 last season and finished fifth in the CCWHA standings. Before her first season with the Spartans officially started, DiMaggio had noticed the lack of recognition for the team on campus. 

"We're representing Michigan State on our jersey," DiMaggio said. "We're traveling all around the United States wearing Michigan State on our jerseys and bringing in all these girls from all over the continent to play club hockey here, and I think that deserves recognition."

Last Saturday, Sept. 21, the team played its first contest of the 2024 season, a scrimmage against Lawrence Tech. The Spartans won 3-2.

This winter, the team looks to win its fourth CCWHA championship, its first since 2013. The first game of its season is slated for Oct. 4 against Miami of Ohio. MSU's home opener is Oct. 6 against Grand Valley State at 3:30 p.m.

"We want to bring more recognition to the women's ice hockey team here at Michigan State because we deserve it," Leib said. "We put in just as much work as the men's team and we want the help we deserve. We need the funding and the resources, because we know deep down that we could bring in so many other women on our team and show them how great it is to play women’s hockey for Michigan State."