HISTORY The Virginia Tech Hokies hockey team was formed in the fall of 1984 as a local men's league team based out of the LancerLot ice arena in Vinton, Virginia just outside of Roanoke. At this point the university gave us a $500 stipend and permission to use the logo on the uniforms. The Hokies first full intercollegiate schedule came in the following season of 1985, with their acceptance into the Southern Collegiate Hockey Association (SCHA) which included 13 other member schools split into two divisions: the Northern Division included Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State, Liberty, Old Dominion and George Mason. The Southern Division included Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Emory. At this time practice was held on dry land or local ponds when they froze because ice time was too expensive. The first season ended with a record of 6-8-2 and viewed as a success as it was their first full season and because it provided the foundation for the future.
In 1991 the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) was formed, which became a national governing body for all collegiate club-level ice hockey in the United States. They split all members into either Division I or II which is where the Hokies and the SCHA found their home.
In the spring of 1993 a massive snow storm caused the structural colapse of the Hokies home arena and left the team in jeporady for the upcoming season. Luckily the Roanoke Civic Center was upgraded that summer to a full time ice arena in efforts to attract an ECHL team and became the new home of the Hokies for years to come.
In the spring of 1995, the Northern Division teams of the SCHA broke off and formed the new Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League in the fall of 1995. The league included Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State, Liberty, Old Dominion and also added newcomers Virginia and Virginia Commonwealtn. The first season of the ACCHL proved to be the most dominant season in Virginia Tech history, as the Hokies rolled to a 13-1 record and captured their only ACCHL regular season Championship in club history.
CURRENT TEAM
The current team continues
to compete in the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL) which is division II member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). A regular ACHA game consists of three 20 minute periods with ice cuts between each period.
Other members of the ACCHL include; Duke, George Mason, Georgetown, North Carolina, NC State and Virginia.
The club is ran by VT students who handle just about every aspect of operations but also have a volunteer coach Michael Spradlin who has been with the team since the 2002 season.
While the University does provide the club with some funding, the majority of the team's budget comes from sponsorships and player dues which vary each year depending on the fiscal status of the team and what is needed for the year.
The Hokies hold tryouts each year early in the Fall semester and encourage any student interested in trying out for the team to fill out the recruitment form found in the recruit section of the website. Even though it is a club sport, the team is as mentioned earlier in a competitive league and therefore will field the best possible team each year and will have to cut players to make up the final roster.
If you have any questions/comments for the team feel free to email any of us through our contact email addresses found in the contact section of the webite.
GO HOKIES!
The 2005-2006 Hokies had big holes in the roster to fill which lead them to field a very young team comprised of 12 freshmen and not a single graduating senior which hurt the team for the first half of the season while most of the players adjusted. The second semester however was a big turn around for the Hokies as they really came together. Their improvements took them to the Semi Finals of the ACCHL tournament where the upset minded Hokies season unfortunately came to an end with an OT shootout loss to an undefeated Duke team that ended up champions after defeating UVA in the finals.
The Hokies did not come away from the year empty handed though as Freshman Forward Jimmy Pope earned 2nd team all ACC team honors and Freshman Forward Matt Harrison earned 1st team all ACC honors and was voted LEAGUE MVP!!!
