After a season-ending leg injury in 2023, UGA hockey goaltender Isaac Haugen has been a force in net this year. Georgia sits at No. 1 in the national AAU Division I rankings, and Haugen’s return is an integral part of the team’s dominance so far. The Ice Dawgs are preparing for ACHA entry, a non-varsity alternative to NCAA, in the mid-level Division II next season. As hockey becomes more popular than ever in Athens with a new arena open downtown, the junior is ready to take on the challenge. Haugen is also a triplet: his brother Truman plays for the Ice Dawgs and his sister Estelle is a UGA volleyball player.

Q: First things first, you transferred to Georgia last year from Belmont, which does not yet have a hockey team. How big of an influence was returning to hockey in your decision to transfer to UGA?

A: Obviously, I have my brother here and a triplet sister, so I would say they were a big part of it, but I had actually been practicing with Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Leaving high school, it was the decision whether to play junior hockey and try and play somewhere in college or just kind of go to school. For me, there was no club hockey in the middle. It was like, I’m either going to go all for it or just not play.

By practicing, I was kind of torturing myself. I just wanted to play again, so when I went to a couple of UGA hockey games with my brother, Truman, where he was playing, they seemed like a lot of fun, and I started missing it more and more. From that point, the decision was kind of easy. I would say it played a decently big role in it.

Q: You’ve had a great start to this season so far, recording five wins and no losses. Considering your injury last year, what would you say are the biggest changes you’ve made this season or skills that you’ve practiced to get back up to that level?

A: I don’t know how much you know about the injury, but it was a pretty big thing to the point where I didn’t know whether I was going to need a brace to walk. It got pretty grim, but I felt super blessed just from the Lord granting me the ability to keep playing. It was a lot of hard work just to rehab it, to get it back to basic things like walking. Then, from there, it was just little adjustments. The first time I went back on the ice, my ankle just kept giving out, so now I have to wear a brace under my skate. It’s just been hard work and making the most of when I’ve been out there.

With the rink being as far away as it’s been [in Duluth], we only get a practice a week, sometimes two, so it’s about every minute you’re out there trying to get better. It’s been a lot of hard work and just playing a little more of a calm style of hockey, just trusting the defenders in front of me. We’ve got a really good team this year, so it’s less “make it about myself” and more just “play a smooth brand of hockey, and let the game take care of itself.”

Q: Last season, you were able to rejoin right before playoffs started in Nashville. Do you think that having to sit out for a while kind of complicated part of the appeal to transferring here since you weren’t able to play?

A: It was definitely really frustrating. I mean, like I had said, part of the reason was just itching to play again, so I was super pumped up for the season. I felt like I had a good group getting back into it. I’m really close with Ryan [Testino], the other goalie, and so we had been talking about what a big year it was going to be, all that. Then, it was like two weeks into the season that it all happened, so it definitely had me questioning [it] a little bit. Sophomore year I felt like was kind of a big year, too, because when you’re a junior, you’re like, “Man, I’m on the tail end of my time here.”

It was definitely frustrating … especially because it’s not like you’re sitting back home. You’re still going to all the games and stuff, and it’s a lot of late games just sitting there, wondering. But, I don’t think it ever changed. I think I knew all along it was the right plan to transfer, but it definitely put a damper on my excitement. It kind of built up all to get me more excited for this year, so I, in some ways, wouldn’t have changed it.

Q: I know that you come from a hockey family. Your dad and all of your siblings played, as well. How do you think that push from a young age shaped you and how you envisioned your future as a hockey player?

A: It was everything. My dad grew up playing goalie. My older brother plays goalie, as well. Well, “played,” I guess. He just graduated from a college up in Minnesota. I kind of felt like I wanted to fall along in (their) footsteps, and that was what for sure got me started on the path of being a goalie. It was super nice from them because they’ve had the same experiences, so there’s nothing that I experience that they haven’t gone through.

Especially with goalie, it’s such a unique position that having two people in your family who understand it is definitely helpful. I don’t think I would’ve ever been a goalie if not for that. I felt like I didn’t really have a choice in a good way, not a bad way. I just kind of knew the position well. I think that had a huge impact. Also, being from Minnesota is like you grow up on skates, so it was me always wanting to take that to the next level. I’ve played other sports, but it was kind of always hockey, then everything else.

Q: You played high school hockey and AA with your brother Truman in Minnesota before coming to Georgia. Since you’ve experienced playing on many different teams with him, what’s the biggest advantage and disadvantage of playing on the same team as your brother?

EDITOR’S NOTE: AA, or a level of USA Hockey’s Tier 2 classification of any age group, is the second most competitive level in youth hockey behind AAA. Top AA players often go to lower-tier Junior teams or high-level collegiate teams. The Haugen brothers played on the Minnesota Moose 18U AA team for the 2021-2022 season.

A: Obviously, the advantages are you get someone who you’re really close with. I think we do have some advantage on the ice in terms of (him knowing) exactly what I want him to be doing. I’ll always be yelling at him out there to stay in front of the net, and he listens well, so I think we have that kind of advantage.

I would say the disadvantage is … there can be times where you get frustrated. I mean, you’re more close, so you naturally get more frustrated with each other. It’s actually funny. The first game I played in (this) season was versus the University of Florida. I think we were up 1-0, maybe 2-0, and he kind of toe-picked at the blue line at Florida. They came down a breakaway, and they scored. I was just laughing at him. He apologized probably four or five times, but it’s funny having that extra dimension with a brother on the team. We’re pretty lighthearted about it. It’s mainly a really big advantage, I’d say.

Q: UGA is adding an ACHA D2 team next year. What was your reaction to that news?

A: I was excited. (Coach) Camp has kind of talked to the players about it, and he’s been really candid. Like, “This is your guys’ team. What do you guys wanna do with it?” I think when people think of club, they think of joking around, maybe getting in fights, not great hockey. So in that sense, I think he was like, “Do you just want it to be like a club hockey team, or do you wanna keep moving this thing up as far as we can go?”

I think for a lot of us, we’re competitors, and if we want to spend our time doing this, we want to do it to the best of our ability. I know my brother and I didn’t play juniors, but I know a decent amount of the guys that played juniors. I had the desire. A lot of us — all of us — had the desire to play the next level, so I don’t think any of us want this to be just some funny thing we don’t care about. When he kind of brought the idea to us, he was like, “Do you wanna keep moving up?” We’re like, “Oh yeah, we want to.” We’ve played some ACHA teams and beat them, so we don’t feel it’s anything out of our capability, but it should be really exciting. I think that in both the next year and then the years to come, it’s going to continue to get a lot better.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Junior hockey is a semi-pro level for players between high school and collegiate/professional careers. Like youth hockey, it is categorized into various tiers based on competition and skill level.

Q: Do you think that shift is going to have any impact on your teammates’ expectations for next season?

A: I think there’s already a lot of expectations this season because we’ve got, like, 12 seniors. With all them leaving next year, in terms of AAU, we’ve kind of determined this is the year to get it done. You know, we want to win it all this year. Past years, we’ve been close, obviously with losses to Tampa and stuff. And then, this year, we swept Tampa. We know we have it in us, and we really want to do it for them because they entered the program at a time when it was kind of more toward that club hockey feeling. Now, they’ve helped build it to what it is. I think we owe it to them.

Going into next season with the ACHA, too, I think it’ll be the same expectation to just get better. Obviously, we’ll have a lot of spots to fill, but the guys we do have coming back are going to be really solid. The expectation remains the same, and that’s just to get better every day and see what we can do at the end of the season.

Q: You’re a junior right now, so what do you see in your future as an Ice Dawg for your next few years on the team?

A: I mean, immediate future, we got a game tomorrow, so looking forward to that. But future-future, I’m excited to finish off the season. Like I said, big expectations and looking to be a part of that. Ryan has also played really well this year, so it’s kind of a double punch we got going. I’m excited to keep rolling with that.

Next season, you know, the door’s pretty open in terms of helping to take over the team myself and trying to lead for a senior year. I had somewhat considered the thought of a fifth year, but it’d be kind of touch-and-go, so I’m really focused on making the most out of the end of this year and the next year in terms of taking over, being the leaders that we’ve seen the seniors be and just carrying us as far as we can.

Q: With Akins Ford Arena approaching its grand opening in downtown Athens, along with UGA’s expanding hockey program and the new minor league Rock Lobsters, how do you think your team has contributed to the growth of hockey in the Southeast?

A: I think it’s pretty crazy. When I visited UGA the first time, they were actually playing a club hockey game versus Georgia Tech in the ballroom. That was maybe, I don’t know, four years ago at this point. It was actually when my sister was visiting for volleyball, and we came and watched the game. I saw the level of hockey, and I was just like, “Eh…I don’t know.”

But I say that to say it’s come such a long way in four years. Now I’m out there, and basically every team you play is like, “Wow, they’ve got some good kids on the team.” I think it’s just been growing skill-wise as a whole. I think that’s due to a whole bunch of reasons, but you see a bunch more guys playing juniors who would maybe go D3 are now going the club hockey route. I know Hockey House Pod and some of the instagrams that cover hockey down south, they’re getting a lot bigger. People are starting to realize club hockey’s fun to watch, and it’s good hockey. I think we’ve been a part of that, as well. I think our social media does a good job trying to push it out there, get people to go.

In terms of the new arena, I think we have really high hopes for that. I mean, I think we’re probably one of the most fortunate teams in the country to be playing in that arena. It’s like a D1 program on steroids with that arena, so we definitely feel very fortunate. We’re going to try and pack it out with a bunch of people. I think the goal will be that no one by the end of next season will be like, “Oh, wait. We have a hockey team?” Like, bringing back that kind of local sense to Athens because I think, with our games and practices being so far away, a lot of people just never have the opportunity to see us play. That’ll be a really exciting part of the new arena.

Q: Last, if you had to guess, what do you think the landscape of UGA hockey will look like five to 10 years from now?

A: That’s a good question. I would say, at a minimum, the skill level will probably be one and a half, two times better than it is right now. I fully anticipate that we’ll be back here in maybe five, seven years to watch a game, and it’ll be like, “Wow.” I certainly don’t think 10, 15 years, I don’t know — maybe even sooner — I think there could be D1 hockey down here, for sure. There’s obviously the demand for it. I think it’s just about kind of making it happen, but it’s exciting. We’re excited to see, and I think Campy will continue climbing the ladder as long as he can.

Mackenzie Rodriguez is a third-year entertainment and media studies student pursuing the sports media certificate.