The Virginia Tech Hokies Ice Hockey club was formed during the 1984–1985 school year by a group of transplanted New Englanders who were looking for a way to play competitive hockey at the collegiate level. Once we received our club status, an initial $500 stipend, and permission to use the University logo and colors on our uniforms, we began the process of trying to fill out a roster and identify opponents for the inaugural season in 1985-1986. Our home rink was the LancerLot, in Vinton Virginia, about an hour from Blacksburg. Fan turn out during the inaugural season was minimal, short of the “parents weekend” game with Liberty, which saw the Hokies play one of their best games of the season in a 2-1 loss. Overall, that first year the Hokies finished 6-8-2 on the ice, but more importantly we established the foundation for the future.
Along the way there were several milestones accomplished by the dedicated players and volunteer coaches/managers who were all integral to the success which the program is now experiencing. Acceptance into the Southern Collegiate Hockey Association (SCHA) during those early years, which gave us competition with the other 13 member schools and helped with the scheduling. In 1991 the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) was formed and became the national governing body for all collegiate club-level ice hockey in the US. That event and the formalization of the rules about scheduling, traveling, and club-level hockey activities in general brought structure to the program and helped the program survive.
In the spring of 1993, a massive snowstorm caused the structural collapse of the Hokies home arena. Without upgrades to the Roanoke Civic Center in the hopes of luring an ECHL team to play there the following fall, Hokie Hockey may well have perished. Instead, the Civic Center became the new home of the Hokies and remained their home through the 2016-2017 season.
In the spring of 1995, the Northern Division teams of the SCHA broke off and formed the new Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League. Virginia Tech dominated that first season in the ACCHL, 1995-1996, rolling to a 13-1 record and capturing their first ACCHL regular season championship.
The Hokies continued to play in the ACCHL with varying degrees of success through the 2001 season. The 2002 season saw the change that helped transform the Hokies into the ACCHL championship team that they are today. In 2002, Michael Spradlin volunteered to take on the coaching duties for the Hokies. It took a couple of seasons, but the discipline and work ethic that Mike brought to the team provided the foundation for the team’s future success. In the 2005-2006 season, the Hokies fielded a team comprised of 12 freshmen. The team struggled initially but found their stride in the second half of the season and stormed through the ACCHL tournament, before finally losing in the semifinals in OT to an undefeated Duke team that would go on to win the league Championship. The Hokies success in this tournament was the next big evolution for the program, with the visibility achieved bringing new recruits and a desire by a very young team to get back to the finals and win it all.
After back-to-back ACCHL championships (2008-2009 and 2009-2010) the Hokies joined the highly competitive Mid Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association for the 2010-2011 season and were placed in the newly formed Southern division. The club brought in a new coach, Keith Houghton, and significantly upgraded their regular season schedule, playing several Top 5 ranked opponents in the Northeast and Southeast Regions. The upgraded schedule and new conference affiliation landed the Hokies the first top 10 ranking in the Southeast Region in the program’s history and a berth in the ACHA D2 SE Regional tournament. During the 2011-2012 season Joey Mullen took over as head coach and the Hokies returned to the SE Regional tournament, winning both games to claim the program’s first ever ACHA D2 National Tournament berth. The program continues to grow as evident by the invitation to play in the 2012 ACHA Showcase as well as the number of top 5 teams in the Central, Northeast, and Southeast regions that have added the Hokies to their schedules.
With the SPHL returning to Roanoke for the 2016-2017 season, the Hokies were forced to move from their usual Friday/Saturday evening game times at the Berglund Center (Rebranded Roanoke Civic Center) to early afternoon game times and their attendance dropped significantly. Unable to cover the game costs at the Berglund center in the afternoons and with ever growing MACH travel costs, the Hokies made two changes at the end of the season, which returned the program to its roots. The Hokies moved their home ice to the recently refurbished LancerLot in Vinton, the original home of the Hokies, and they also moved back to the ACCHL. With Coach Mullen at the helm, the Hokies took possession of their new locker room facility at the LancerLot and prepared for the 2017-2018 season. Favorable scheduling and a return to the Friday and Saturday evening game slots have allowed the Hokies to re-establish their fan base, which has steadily increased as the LancerLot continues to improve its fan amenities. The 2019-2020 season saw the Hokies stream their games on FB live, from an initial one fixed camera setup as well as establishing the first ever Kids Club in the program’s history. On the ice the Hokies hosted a six team Invitational Tournament, the first ever prospects skate, and introduced their new “Enter Night” third jerseys as part of a charity game co-hosted with the US Naval Academy. COVID impacted the Hokies 2020-2021 season, limiting their time on the ice to practices and a single game at the end of the season. The Hokies returned to the ice full time for the 2021-2022 season, celebrating their 35th anniversary season a year late by winning the regular season ACCHL Championship as well as several league awards. During the season we also upgraded their game broadcast experience with play by play audio and streamed games live via our YouTube Channel and enhanced our social media presence with off-ice staff dedicated to those platforms. These volunteers are all VT students who give their time and energy to the VT Hockey program. The 2022-2023 season brought new members to the ACCHL and the creation of Premier and Elite divisions within the league at the D2 level. The Hokies were one of the six original teams selected to play in the Premier division, the one that holds the ACCHL’s auto bid to the SE Regional Tournament for the tournament champion. The 2024-2025 Season saw the Hokies play in their first outdoor game in the program’s history, defeating the UNC Tarheels 6-0 before a sold-out crowd at Truist Field in Charlotte, NC.
The maturation of the Hokie Hockey program from those early beginnings where each and every player was just grateful to have a place to play competitively, to those middle years where the team survived despite the logistical, financial, and scheduling challenges that they faced, to the current version of the Hokies has been amazing. To see the team go undefeated in league play during the 2008-2009, win their second regular season championship, their first league playoff championship, achieve their first ever regular season and final season national ranking, qualify for the Southeast Regional Tournament and participate in a National Championship are accomplishments that we could have only dreamed would be achieved 40 years ago when the club was formed. The team accomplishments across that time are even more amazing when you consider that they have no on/near campus ice facility and draw most of their fans from the local Vinton/Roanoke area vice from the Blacksburg community.
Bulleted List of Team Achievements:
- 1995 Inaugural ACCHL Regular Season Champions
- 2007 Canes Cup Champions, the first non-NC school to win the title
- Commonwealth Cup Champions 2008-2009, 2009-2010
- ACCHL Regular Season Champions 2008-2009, 2009-2010
- ACCHL Tournament Champions 2008-2009, 2009-2010
- ACCHL Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year Awards
- ACCHL Hall of Fame Inductees, Inaugural Class (2014)
- 2010-2011 – Inaugural MACH South Champions
- 2010-2011 – Achieved the highest ever end of season ranking #4 Southeast Region
- 2010-2011 – First appearance in the ACHA Southeast Regional Tournament
- 2011-2012 – ACHA Southeast Regional Tournament
- 2011-2012 – First appearance in ACHA D2 National Championship Tournament
- 2011-2012 – Team finishes with #4 Ranking in the Southeast and #12 ranking Nationally
- 2012-2013 – ACHA Showcase Tournament participant
- 2012-2013 – MACH League Champions
- 2012-2013 – MACH Playoff MVP
- 2012-2013 – MACH All Star Team Selections
- 2012-2013 – ACHA SE Regional Tournament participant
- 2013-2014 – MACH All Conference Defenseman
- 2013-2014 – ACHA SE Regional Tournament participant
- 2014-2015 – MACH All Conference Defenseman
- 2014-2015 – MACH Freshman of the Year
- 2014-2015 – MACH Coach of the Year
- 2014-2015 – ACHA SE Regional Tournament participant
- 2014-2015 – MACH All Star Team Selections
- 2016-2017 – MACH All Star Team Selections
- 2017-2018 – ACCHL First, Second, and Rookie Team All American Selections
- 2017-2018 – ACCHL Hall of Fame Inductee
- 2018-2019 – ACCHL Second Team All American Selections
- 2018-2019 – ACCHL Hall of Fame Inductee
- 2018-2019 – ACCHL All Star Team Selections
- 2019-2020 – ACCHL S/R Tournament Skills Competition Champions
- 2019-2020 – ACCHL S/R Tournament Runners up (Tie with Wake Forest)
- 2019-2020 – ACCHL First, Second, and Rookie Team All American Selections
- 2021-2022 – ACCHL Regular Season Champions
- 2021-2022 – ACCHL Player of the Week Honors
- 2021-2022 – ACCHL Coach of the Year
- 2021-2022 – ACCHL Goalie of the Year
- 2021-2022 – ACCHL Rookie of the Year
- 2022-2023 – ACCHL Forward of the Year
- 2023-2024 – ACCHL Rookie of the Year
- 2023-2024 – ACCHL All Star Team Selections (6)
- 2024-2025 – ACCHL Defenseman of the Year
- 2024-2025 – ACCHL Player of the Year
- 2024-2025 – ACHA SE Regional Tournament Participant
