“If you’ll be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal. I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me you can call me Al.”

These lines from the famous Paul Simon song “You Can Call Me Al” are the reasons behind the Iowa State Hockey Pep Band playing the song at each home game.

Chris Omar, senior in management, plays trombone for the band. He said this song is one of the band’s favorites because the ISU men’s hockey team is coached by none other than Al Murdoch.

Tim Burkhart, senior in civil engineering and band organizer, plays the drums and saxophone in the band.

“[The band] started probably about 8 years ago, and it’s just a group of people who liked to go to hockey games and thought ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there was a pep band?’ And it’s kind of been building on that ever since,” Burkhart said.

Some band members said the band is seen as a volunteer effort since it isn’t supported financially by the university.

While the Hockey Pep Band is registered with ISU, it is not affiliated with the marching or pep bands through ISU’s music department, Burkhart said. As a result, it is quite a bit different from the other bands.

“One of the interesting things about the Hockey Pep Band is we don’t receive any money from ISU,” he said.

The band plays at all home games and travels to one away game a year, Burkhart said.

“We feel that we can help the team out pretty good when we travel with them,” he said. “I feel that any team does better when any group is there to support it.”

Melissa Conley, sophomore in construction engineering, plays trumpet for the band. She said the hockey team and the band have a good relationship.

“The only reason we have the Hockey Pep Band is because the team asked us to be there,” she said.

Burkhart said the band plays mostly “basic fight songs” and said the band tries to change songs weekly for variety.

Omar said he hopes the hockey team has benefited from having the pep band provide the vibe for victory.

“I think they would have had a good season [without the band],” Omar said. “But I’d like to think we’ve helped them to a few more wins than they would have had without us.”