Through ‘#ichuSe,’ 1st year head coach Britni Smith instills Syracuse’s team values
Arnav Pokhrel | Contributing Photographer
To instill a sense of culture, in her first year as Syracuse head coach Britni Smith developed the ‘IchuSe’ hashtag. The team uses the hashtag on all of their social media posts to highlight their values
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Over the summer, newly-appointed Syracuse ice hockey head coach Britni Smith laid the groundwork for a strong team culture —she had each player rank their core values on a scale from 1-5.
“When I first got the job here, we spent a lot of time discussing where the culture is at and what we like, and what we can improve,” Smith said. “The players had just as much of a say in what our core values are and what our culture is as myself or any other staff member.”
After evaluating all of the players’ values, the program’s six core values became intentionality, character, humility, unity, Syracuse and excellence. That created #ichuSe, pronounced “I choose.” The hashtag became the center of the program’s culture-building effort, as players have bought into the identifiers. The team uses the hashtag on all of their social media posts to highlight their values.
Following the creation of the hashtag, the coaching staff and players set up a weekly meeting where players have an open space to talk about the good, bad and ugly of the team’s culture and to hold each other accountable.
In late January, only one game separated Syracuse and Mercyhurst for second place in the College Hockey America standings before its first series of the season. After last season’s CHA Championship game that Syracuse won 3-2 last season, this series had huge implications for this year’s squad.
In the opening game, Syracuse and Mercyhurst were knotted at one goal apiece after the first period, but things went awry in the second. Following a quick penalty by Lauren Bellefontaine, Mercyhurst was given a power play that Sydney Pederson capitalized on. It snowballed from there, as Mercyhurst won 6-1.
“We have shown we are a resilient group and can rebound,” Smith said after loss in a press release. “We will be back at it tomorrow.”
The following day, Syracuse played Mercyhurst again, this time with a new mindset: put more emphasis on team culture. With the players refocused, Syracuse notched a much-needed conference point, tying the Lakers 1-1.
“The second game, there was a huge difference,” Tatum White said. “You could really just see how much focus we were putting in our culture and all buying into the same thing. You could really see a difference because we were able to get a (CHA) point out of it.”
The #ichuSe meetings, where the team discusses how well they embodied the values, always take place on Tuesdays, but nothing else is structured. The length of the meeting, time of the meeting, topics discussed and who participates all constantly change.
“Our first debrief really stood out to me because I had never done it before being here,” said Bellefontaine, a fifth-year senior. “We never had culture meetings, so I think it was a huge step forward for this team and this program.”
In addition to the Tuesday meetings, there’s a commencement every Thursday honoring the player who was the best at embracing the team culture that week.
At Thursday meetings, the previous winner presents a hard hat to the new recipient. The hard hat is a pre-existing part of the program, but its meaning has evolved with the new coaching staff. At the top of the hard hat, all the numbers of the players who have been awarded the hat are displayed, which is something that “excites the players,” Smith said.
“When we are going through tough times, and when we’re not winning the games we want to win, (our team culture) holds us accountable and helps us bounce back faster than normal,” Bellefontaine said.
Serving as an assistant coach at Clarkson for eight years, which included back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 2017 and 2018, Smith attributed the Golden Knight’s culture as a key source for its success.
At Syracuse, Smith is looking to build something similar, but it’ll take more than just a year to build and evolve.
“Culture is something that you don’t build in one year and it stays the rest of your time,” Smith said. “It’s an ebb and flow… It’s a constant project. It’s a constant process for us, and something that we take a lot of pride in and that we get excited about.”
Published on February 15, 2023 at 10:59 pm
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon
