MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — For Linden Palmer, Middle Tennessee State University’s ice hockey team captain, president and winger, ice hockey is more than a hobby. 

His involvement with the growing non-varsity sport club has allowed him to make connections with country music artist and MTSU alum Michael Hardy, known professionally as HARDY, who wore his jersey during a show last October at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, and Midstate rap artist M.C. D, who dropped the puck for the first home game this season on Sept. 27 at the Ford Ice Center in Antioch, Tenn.

“It’s honestly everything, just to get our name out there, because, I mean, we’ve got people around campus who don’t know us,” Palmer said. “So, just seeing Hardy wearing it (Palmer’s jersey) and M.C. D, who’s really growing, . . . came out to two of our games last year, came in the locker room and gave us a pep talk. He’s been really big for this program, and I hope he sticks along with us.”

Palmer, a 21-year-old senior leisure and sports management major from Lebanon, Tennessee, said being a part of the team and his major have inspired him to work toward his dream job of an athletic director or general manager for an ice hockey or any other professional sports team after graduation.

“I think it’s a great resume builder for me,” Palmer said of his work with the non-varsity sport club. “We practice two times a week, skate pretty much every weekend with games — so kind of tackling hockey, school and then (my) president stuff, it can be a lot, but … I enjoy it.”

Don Roy, faculty advisor for the team and marketing professor, said Palmer “is an excellent leader on the ice and for the club in general. The team has committed to competing at a more challenging level than in past years.”

“Linden has been instrumental in helping the team get the needed resources to be competitive in the College Hockey South conference, with the ultimate goal of making the AAU College Hockey national tournament,” he added.

Palmer said his role as the team captain and president is to coordinate jersey, glove and helmet orders for the team, register the team with club sports, talk with any guests who do puck drops, ensure game times are set and verifying that the rinks, hotels and busses are paid.

MTSU competes in College Hockey South, a member conference of AAU College Hockey that consists of 50 teams from 30 schools in eight states across the Southeast, with some schools also fielding women’s teams, according to the collegehockeysouth.com website. 

MTSU is part of the six-team Division 2 North of the conference that also includes the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.

Palmer, who wears No. 9, has achieved a myriad of recognitions for his ice hockey talent. During his time playing for MTSU, he became the first player to record 100 career points as well as earning the CHS All-Starand Third Team All-Conference recognitions for the 2021-22 season. Before playing for MTSU at the college level, he played for the Nashville Flyers AA.

According to MTSU Campus Recreation, a sport club is a registered student organization formed to educate, compete, and/or participate in a particular sport. Sport clubs are student-initiated, student-led and student-managed and, unlike intramural sports, sport clubs have the opportunity to represent the university by traveling and competing against clubs from other schools.

‘Good to see it building’

MTSU hockey team’s season started strong with two wins against Appalachian State University, a tie and loss against the University of Tennessee followed by two wins at home against the University of Alabama-Birmingham. 

“It’s been great. We started practicing back on Aug. 6, and we brought in probably 10 or 12 new guys, and they’re making a huge impact already,” Palmer said. “It’s good to see that. Good to see it building.”

Palmer expressed prior to the University of Tennessee games last month that they had lost to the team every year in the last four years. He said, “They made the jump to Division 1, so it’ll be a great weekend for an upset.” Even though they lost the Sept. 20 game, they tied with UT the next day, showing progress from years past.

“It is rewarding to be the faculty advisor for this group,” said Roy. “I have known some of these players since they were in elementary school, and now they are men representing MTSU on the ice.

“Their commitment to the sport is amazing — making early morning and late night practices and playing games on weekends — all while meeting expectations in the classroom.”

Rapper M.C. D dropped the puck at the first home game of the season against the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The team made the connection with the rapper by using his song, “Tennessee Pimpin’,” as their goal song. They began tagging the rapper on social media using his song, and M.C. D noticed and reached out to the team.

“One of our vets, Donovan (Yesnach, winger), he’s kind of made a friendship with him. So, he was the one coordinating the puck drop,” Palmer said.

In terms of making the connection with HARDY, Palmer said the team was on their way back from Orlando when his assistant coach asked Palmer if he could get HARDY a jersey for his Nashville show that same night. 

“This was at like, five or six o’clock. He went on stage at eight. It’s like, okay, we’re on a bus eight hours away from home … I texted one of my buddies who was president of ATO (Alpha Tau Omega), ‘Hey, can you break in my house and grab one of my jerseys?’ . . . He went and then took it to HARDY’s wife, who then got it to HARDY. So, it was actually my jersey,” Palmer said.

After HARDY wore Palmer’s jersey at his Nashville, Tenn., show last October, the hockey team gifted him with a custom-made jersey with his name written across the back. Palmer joked that he never got his original jersey returned, but he was happy for HARDY to have it.

After the first two home games on Sept. 27-28, the team has a two-week homestand beginning Oct. 18 and would love to fill the stands. For the full schedule, click here.

“The players appreciate when their fellow students come out to support them. They hear the fans and feed off their energy. The games are always entertaining,” Roy said.

— Maddy Williams (Maddy.Williams@mtsu.edu)