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About the Team
Team HistoryBefore the current club was created the seeds of hockey at ASU can be traced back as far as 1987. This was the last year the town of Boone had its own hockey rink, and before the Hurricanes, Predators and Thrashers called the south their home. This squad lasted for half a season and represents the first known team to play for the black and gold.It would be another 10 years before a few determined souls found enough interest to join an adult league at the now retired Spruce Pines hockey rink. Brian Benton, Lucas McGill, Dave Hutchison, Davy Nemetz, Brett Dabb, and Tony Snook are several of these men now our founding fathers. The first years have stories of these men sharing helmets and stuffing copies of The Appalachian into their socks to have the protection required to participate. Stories like these, and many others, have turned our founding fathers into some of the legends of ASU hockey. After only a few years the Spruce Pines rink closes down and the team, now an official club sport, begins playing at the LJVM annex in Winston-Salem. This was the most pivotal point in our team's history and their success proved that Appalachian State Ice Hockey would live on without a home rink. In the year 2001 Appalachian State joined the newly created Blue Ridge Hockey Conference and began playing today's rivals from Virginia and the Carolinas. That December marks the first win in intercollegiate play with a 5-4 win over the NCSU Wolfpack. In 2003 the team pulls off one of the greatest runs in school history, clinching a playoff birth in the last week of play, the team proceeded to sweep the #1, 2 and 3 seeds of the tournament to be crowned champions of the BRHC. That years tournament MVP was ASU goaltender Brett Dabb. The season also saw the likes of Bobby Hathaway and Andy Bullin. In the 2006-2007 hockey season the Mountaineers rewrote its own record books, going 16-8-1 and making another deep run in the playoffs. This team got its boost from veterans such as Alex Hogan, Patti Veedock, James Birkett, John Hauser and Nick Livy and from its then sophomore class of Sal Blair, Curt Omlie, Eric Chast, Morgan Brown, Ryan Hauser and Austin Pantaleo. The performance put on by the team as a whole is still referenced today. In the 2009-2010 hockey season the Mountaineers again rewrote its record books; winning the BRHC Carolina Division, BRHC regular season championship, and joined the 2003 team in being crowned BRHC champions. To go along with these honors the Mountaineers were even ranked in the top 15 of the ACHA D3 Southern Region, and finished the season with a record of 19-8-2. Heading into the 2010-2011 season ASU looks to make another run at the BRHC's Hulsey Cup and a regional playoff birth. With another great recruiting class expected, this could be the year ASU is finally recognized as one of the Southern regions top teams.
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