A banner year: Penn State Altoona hockey team reflects on a championship season

ALTOONA, Pa. — It’s taken some time, but Penn State Altoona’s club ice hockey team has regrouped and rebuilt in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its previous years of existence, the team belonged to the College Hockey East (CHE) league, a mixed American collegiate hockey association for universities in the Western Pennsylvania region. In its re-emergent year of 2023, the team also joined the Delaware Valley College Hockey Conference (DVCHC) for the first time, a conference that includes teams from the mid-Atlantic area of the country.

This gave the club more playing time and more competition. It was a successful season in terms of getting players back on the ice and back into shape. Further, it was a time to learn how to work as a team and get into the swing of competing again.

Team members also worked hard to promote the club and recruit for the 2024-25 season. They nailed it because the number of people who showed up for try-outs in the fall was the highest ever, according to Tom Lantz, this year’s general manager. Lantz has also served as general manager or head coach over the last 15 years.

Once the team was selected, players hit the ice hard.

Penn State Altoona student and goalie Roan McCormick said from day one, the goal was to bring home a championship banner from each league.

McCormick came to Penn State Altoona in 2023. He said he was excited to learn about the club hockey team as he had assumed leaving high school meant leaving his hockey days behind as well.

Instead, he found new friends, a team to belong to and a home on the ice.

He said a couple of new things incorporated this year were helpful in building the team’s success, including dryland practices. They were basic workouts — pushups, sit ups and some running, that sort of thing.

“It wasn’t anything crazy, but we had that extra time together on top of our normal practice schedule,” McCormick said. “I think a solid team chemistry was a really big factor toward us wanting to win, not for ourselves, but for each other.”

This was Denton Park’s first year at Penn State Altoona and on the hockey team.

“I wasn’t sure what it would be like to go from a team I’d been playing on pretty much my whole life to one where I didn’t know anyone," Park said. "But leadership was great about bringing everyone together quickly. They were so welcoming and inclusive and big on team effort and working together.”

Coach Dave Mueller makes it a priority to build that culture, that community where everyone supports each other first and foremost.

Mueller wanted to play Penn State Altoona club hockey when he started at the college in 2020. Unfortunately, he never had the chance as the pandemic hit, and there weren’t enough players to form a team the following year. He transferred to University Park and graduated with a degree in finance.

In August 2023, he was approached by Lantz and club members about becoming their assistant coach, a position he eagerly accepted. He took over as head coach this year.

Mueller lives in Hollidaysburg and is working toward a master's of business administration from West Chester University. He coaches a youth league and a high school team in addition to Penn State Altoona’s club.

He clearly loves to coach and certainly loves the competitive side of the sport — but it’s more than that for him.

“We want to make sure that players are building their own skill sets, but in turn that builds our skill set as a team," Mueller said. "When we focus on building something together, something bigger than us as individuals, that’s when everyone feels like they have a place and that they belong. And that’s really what it’s about.”

Mueller said he could tell from the get-go that this year’s group of players were dedicated to the team and extremely motivated. They were willing to learn and grow, and they wanted to make a statement that Penn State Altoona was a contender for those banners.

The first game of the season was a home-opener against Robert Morris University, back-to-back defending CHE champs. Altoona took them down 7-4.

“That really got us off to a hot start,” Parksaid. “It gave us a lot of confidence and a good feeling for the year ahead.”

Yet, everyone recognized there was still a lot of work to do, and it wouldn’t be an open road to success. The season came with as many hiccups as highs.

Mueller made sure to address problems and weaknesses as they came up.

“I think reflection was a big part of our success," Mueller said. "We didn’t just write things off, didn’t just move on and forget about them. We watched footage, we talked about what we could learn from our losses and how to regroup and move forward. It was always about how to improve and grow as a team.”

Players dug in time and time again.

“We knew we had our work cut out for us, but we always gave it our all,” McCormick said. “We knew what it would take to win.”

All of that effort, drive and focus led the team where they planned to be all along — to the playoffs of both leagues.

The team took its first crack at that two-banner goal with the CHE championship game in Pittsburgh on February 28.

They met once again with Robert Morris University, a team they’d beaten three times during the regular season. Coming up against them for a fourth time in the championship proved to be as much a mental game as a physical one.

“It all came down to that day, that game. Coach reminded us that everything we’d done before didn’t matter, and we couldn’t take anything for granted,” Park said.

The team jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, starting momentum. They pressed on the gas all the way through the game, which ended in a 5-1 victory and that coveted banner, the fourth CHE championship for Penn State Altoona.

“We all wanted it,” McCormick said. “We all wanted to be there, to be on the team and to be there for each other. We all wanted to win for our teammates right next to us.”

To be sure, team members were thrilled about the big win, but celebrations were somewhat muted because the very next day, they would head to Philadelphia for the DVCHC semi-finals.

“We celebrated, and we were happy,” McCormick said. “But we were pretty focused on the weekend as a whole. You could feel the desire to win another one.”

Park agreed.

“The job wasn’t finished,” Park said. “It was awesome to get the CHE win, and we were definitely excited about it, but we were totally in the mindset of two banners.”

Early Saturday morning, the team headed to the eastern side of the state to take on a nearly undefeated Bucknell in round one of the DVCHC playoffs.

They fought hard, gave everything they had, but they fell 3-1. Bucknell went on to win the championship.

It was a heartbreaking defeat.

“It was a tough loss to take,” McCormick said. “But looking back on it now, I know that just because we lost the second game doesn't mean the CHE win didn't happen or matter. I’m happy to have that win and happy to have done it with this group.”

“It was like nothing I've ever experienced,” Park said. “It was a lot of fun, and we’ll always have this. There will always be that banner hanging in our home rink, Galactic Ice, with our names on it.”

Mueller said he is impressed with what the team accomplished this season. He’s proud of the fight the players always showed, the heart they put into everything.

“A lot of times when things don't go your way, it's very easy to throw in the towel and give up," Mueller said. "I never saw that from our group. They were nonstop the entire year, and their effort never wavered.”

Mueller also said it would have been incredible to clinch the DVCHC, but the loss doesn’t change the rest of the team’s success. Every single person, from player to managerial staff, can look back on this season and be incredibly proud.

This season may be over, but team members already have their eyes on the next one.

Park will take over as president of the club. He and the rest of the board have begun a recruitment campaign and are thinking about scheduling some non-conference games for extra playtime and challenge.

Park said he is excited about what’s ahead.

“Of course, we’ll be in the mindset of bringing home two banners," Park said. "We want to push ourselves as hard as we can and keep improving. We want to play and have fun for ourselves, but also for everyone beside us.”

Mueller will return as head coach, and he has a clear vision for the program.

“My core goals are the same," Mueller said. "We’ll enforce that team culture and positive environment. I want everyone who joins our program to build on their own character and skill set. I want them to do what they love and know they belong somewhere — here in the Penn State Altoona ice hockey club.”