Team History

Team History

NAU HOCKEY HISTORY  

With completion of the Flagstaff Ice Rink in 1971, the NAU Hockey Club program began in the fall of 1971 under the tutelage of a native of International Falls, Minnesota, Dr. Gerald Caple, who was a Chemistry Professor at NAU. The esteemed Dr. Caple committed to a decade of organizing, advising, managing, and coaching the fledgling hockey club. He spent countless hours and untold amounts of money in order to develop and build a respectable college hockey organization. Sacrificing a lot of time with his wife, Sharon, and their three daughters, Dr. Caple could be found at the Flagstaff Ice Arena, now known as the Jay Lively Activity Center, late at night or early in the morning providing direction for his young charges. 

 NAU Hockey grew over the years and became a powerful club team. The hockey team beat many of the collegiate and amateur teams in the southwest, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University in the beginning days of their club programs. In the spring of 1978, the NAU program, then coached by Michigan native and NHL veteran, Jimmy Peters, even played the professional Phoenix Roadrunners of the Pacific Hockey League in front of over 4,000 exuberant fans. In addition to the Allan brothers (Peter and Doug) in goal, the Lumberjacks lineup included Billy ‘Woody’ Wood (Robbinsdale, Minnesota); Danny Turcotte (Falher, Alberta); Calgary, Alberta natives, Scott Atkinson, Bruce Matkin, John ‘Red’ Hagen; Wayne ‘Mad Dog’ Nelson (Kelowna, British Columbia); Tony Halton (Portland, Oregon); Jim Belden, Gary Novak, and John Ozello (all from Chicago); and noted Phoenix sports media personality, Kevin McCabe, as well as highly-regarded Phoenix hockey aficionado and a native of Chicago, Brian ‘Shadow’ Smith. 

From 1977 to 1985, NAU played in the Walkup Skydome in front of huge crowds. This success in club hockey helped NAU to move to NCAA Division I hockey in the 1981-82 season.  The Jacks had five great seasons as a NCAA Division I - Independent squad. In the 1984-85 seasons, NAU played two historic home weekend series; each 2-game series drew close to 10,000 NAU hockey fans to watch these games versus Michigan State University and Ohio State University. Former Detroit Red Wing and Los Angles King, Jimmy Peters; and John Mason, former assistant coach at Bowling Green, Michigan State, and Ohio State were the two Lumberjack Head Coaches during this time. NAU also had some top players hailing from all across North America, including Captains Bobby Knight (Thunder Bay, Ontario); Blair Larson (Victoria, British Columbia); Billy Swarbrick (Omaha, Nebraska); and Steve Selva (Port Alberni, British Columbia); as well as goaltenders Kreg Korinek (Omaha, Nebraska) and Gary Shepherd (Regina, Saskatchewan). Easily the most notable player ever to perform as a Lumberjack was Greg Adams, who hailed from Nelson, British Columbia. Adams had a 17-year National Hockey League career. From 1984-1985 to 2000-2001, Adams had playing stops in New Jersey, Vancouver, Dallas, Phoenix, and Florida – helping Vancouver make the Stanley Cup finals against the New York Rangers in 1993-94.  Also making the ‘Show’ was Bobby Beers, who was a Lumberjack in 1985-86. Beers had a 7-year NHL career, playing for Boston, Edmonton, Tampa Bay, and the New York Islanders. He is currently the color commentator for the Bruins’ radio broadcasts. Other former NAU players from the 1985-86 season who had connections with the NHL were Brent Mowery (Nelson, British Columbia drafted by Winnipeg); Tony Fairfield (St. Albert, Alberta drafted by Edmonton); and Glen Engevik (Surrey, British Columbia drafted by New Jersey). 

The NAU edition as a NCAA Division I program was dropped after the 1985-86 season due to the ice facility in the Walkup Skydome falling in disrepair and state budget cuts to the university system. After major renovations (including new locker rooms added in time for the 1995-96 season), to the Jay Lively Activity Center (aka the Flagstaff Ice Arena or the ‘Jay’) in the early 1990s, the NAU Hockey Club was resurrected for the 1991-92 season by a group of NAU students and former player and club/Division I assistant coach, Doug Allan, originally from Stoughton, Saskatchewan. The new-edition of the Lumberjacks had several great seasons playing similar university club programs, eventually joining in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). Some players who helped put the NAU Hockey Club back on the map in that era were Scott Barker (Phoenix via St. Louis, Missouri); Chuck King (Rye Brook, New York); Scott Thompson (Phoenix via Red Wing, Minnesota); Schaumberg, Illinois natives Brad Bialas and Mike Swords; Mike Bork (Beaver Dam, Wisconsin); Marc Sevigny (Bowling Green, Ohio); Jeff Osberg (Wayzata, Minnesota); Steve Conklin (Silver Spring, Maryland); Brad Mullet and Nolan McKelvey (Okemos, Michigan); as well as local Flagstaff products, Glen Austin, Ben Evans, and Eric Dahn. In 1994-95, due to time constraints and family responsibilities, Coach Allan stepped down turning over the team to former NAU Varsity player and captain, Blair Larson (Head Coach), and Steve Holmes (General Manager), who was a former NAU Football player and hockey parent. Eventually the club was coached and managed by Minnesota native and local educator, Ron Kuzara.

 In 2004-2005, A J Fairchild from Pittsburgh, PA assisted Kuzara and took over the program in 2005. Fairchild installed Todd Schall who came through Phoenix from Devils Lake, North Dakota as Head Coach in 2006. The team qualified for the ACHA Division III national tournament the next two seasons finishing 8th in the nation in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2007 and 6th in the nation in Rochester, Minnesota in 2008. Dillon Shaffer from Phoenix, AZ made All American along with Josh Brown from Travers City, Michigan, San Diego’s Kevin Ingram, team captain Tyler Holmes from Flagstaff, AZ, Michael Borgeson from Peoria, AZ and Alex Trieweiler from Homer, Alaska were Pacific Region All Americans.  

The 2008-2009 season began with Keith Johanson as the new head coach along with Coach Allan and graduate assistant, Josh Brown. The team again qualified, this time as the top seed at the national tournament in Rochester, New York. The Ice Jacks finished 6th in the ACHA Division III tournament in March of 2009. Shaffer again gained All American status as did Matt Dyal, Michael Borgeson and Ben Jordan. Tyler Holmes won academic All American along with Matt Dyal.  

The Ice Jacks began an historic season (2009-2010) as two teams are now playing competitively in ACHA. NAU had a great recruiting year that brought in many new players to try out for the teams.  The top team is playing in ACHA Division II and the Division II team is playing in ACHA PCHA Conference. Head coach Keith Johanson, Travis Johanson and Josh Brown are coaching the Division II team. Kris Walsh is head coach of the DIII team assisted by Pittsburgh native Craig Maxwell. The DII team has had a great season posting a 19-8-0-1 record and battled for a top 10 spot in the Pacific Region. After the rink collapse of January 2010, the teams were not able to practice and play at home. The DII team finished just short of making the ACHA regional tournament. The DIII team worked hard each game and finished with a #13 ranking in the Pacific Region ACHA DIII. Michael Gray was named DIII Academic All-American.