hockey hearts AND business minds

A chance meeting between two sports fanatics — Justin Kaufenberg, a 2003 economics graduate, and Carson Kipfer, a 2004 graphic design graduate — in the UW-Eau Claire residence halls set the foundation for a partnership that would extend far beyond the walls of a classroom. The self-proclaimed "stats junkies" bonded over their love of playing hockey; Kaufenberg played four years of Blugold hockey and Kipfer competed at the intramural level. Their love for the game and their specialized skills in business and design led to the idea for Puck Systems, a website tool specifically intended for hockey organizations, and ultimately the creation of their successful company, Sport Ngin (pronounced "engine"). By the time they graduated from UW-Eau Claire, Kaufenberg and Kipfer had a dozen hockey associations paying to use their product. They made the move to the Twin Cities and rewrote the Puck Systems program so it could accommodate organizations in any sport. The result was Sport Ngin, a proprietary platform that currently powers more than 4,000 leagues, tournaments and sports organizations around the world. The company works to change the way leagues, teams, players, scouts and fans interact with a range of athletic organizations. Kaufenberg and Kipfer's shared passion for design, technology and sports has recruited clients from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, China, Germany, England and Turkey, and include USA Hockey, the National Lacrosse League, the British Baseball Federation and the Wisconsin Sports Network — and that's pretty powerful.