When the checking and shots stop flying during TCU hockey games, a new team takes the ice: The TCU Ice Girls.

The TCU Ice Girls is made up of 16 women who have a background in dance, cheerleading or figure skating.

The Ice Girls team was created this season to promote the TCU club hockey team and increase the energy during games.

TCU Ice Girls manager Helena Virga, a sophomore strategic communication major, said many TCU students are unaware of the hockey team.

Virga and Michael Authier, the captain of the hockey team and a senior finance and accounting major, wanted to find a way to let people know about the club hockey team.

“The captain of the hockey team asked me to help out with their [public relations] so I thought Ice Girls would be the best way to promote them,” Virga said.

The Ice Girls help promote the team by wearing TCU hockey jerseys on game days and posting calendars around campus and the Fort Worth area.

Kaitlin Diaz, a junior criminal justice major and Ice Girl, said wearing the jerseys around campus is a conversation starter because it catches people’s attention.

“When we wear our jerseys people ask where can they buy one and that’s when I tell them about the team and their games,” Diaz says.

Diaz says the purpose of the Ice Girls is to get the more people to the games and pumped up once they are there.

During games some of the Ice Girls sell jerseys and pucks in the lobby while the rest cheer on the Horned Frogs in the stands.

In between each period, the women take to the ice to get the crowd’s energy up.

The Ice Girls interact with the fans by skating around and chanting “Go Frogs” with the crowd, performing routines and tricks, throwing t-shirts into the stands and cleaning the ice around the goal.

“I like the Ice Girls,” Austin Weems, a junior mechanical engineering major, said. “I think it’s a great change in pace and scenery.”

Authier said he hopes the Ice Girls raise awareness for the team around campus and bring more fans to the games.

“It gets us motivated seeing people in the stands,” Authier said.

Coming off their first stretch of play in the season, the hockey team is 4-8.

The team’s next game will be Jan. 23 and 24 at Texas Tech University.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmw_6TjEUI&feature=youtu.be