At 4 a.m., Boone is asleep, but the App State club hockey team is just rolling into town after concluding its night of practice. 

Once a week, players take the 114-mile drive to Greensboro to get on the ice just past midnight. Ninety minutes later, the team packs up and heads home, knowing their alarms will ring in just a few hours to begin classes.

“It’s a busy life; there’s no stopping,” head coach Matt Mugno said. 

Mugno grew up playing roller hockey and started youth coaching at the age of 13. His first experience coaching at the college level was at App State, where he often goes the extra mile, such as bringing stick tape and skate sharpening equipment. 

“With this group, most of them are better hockey players than me; they’re just really smart hockey players,” Mugno said. 

Senior forward Riley Brady serves an influential role as one of the captains on and off the ice. 

“Riley has been our energy guy, our batteries guy for the past couple years,” Mugno said. 

Brady said his dedication to the sport and the team since he joined his freshman year. 

“A captain is someone that leads by example, that goes out there and does the little things: they block shots, lay hits and backcheck, and they go grind,” Brady said. 

Brady wasn’t planning on playing hockey in college. However, just two weeks before the start of his freshman year, his friend knew of his history with hockey and convinced him to come meet the team and see if he would be a fit. 

“I immediately loved the group of guys they had here, and, you know, I had played hockey my whole life, so I love the sense of camaraderie,” Brady said. “I loved the feeling of like I was doing something for my school.” 

Although hockey is recognized as a club sport, they represent and pride themselves on being much more than that. 

“This is something that people don’t realize is you go to a club hockey game, people are thinking it’s just a bunch of house league players whacking around pucks,” Mugno said. “These guys are very good, skilled and intelligent hockey players.”

Formerly playing at the Division III level, club hockey leveled up to Division II in April. An elevated division can come with its own set of challenges, such as facing off established schools like UNC-Wilmington and UNC-Charlotte. Universities such as Coastal Carolina and Liberty are Division III but are very serious competitors within that realm.

“We really prepared ourselves playing better teams last year, and we knew we would move up,” Mugno said. 

Senior defensemen Toby Gleeson has a different perspective as a transfer student from the University of Northern Colorado whose hockey experience was disrupted by  COVID-19 and university guidelines.

“I was sitting in my room, and I said, ‘Wow, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,’” Gleeson said. “‘I want to go there and play hockey.’”

In just the first game of the season, Gleeson suffered a broken ankle from slamming into somebody on the ice. 

“I would still go to practices on my scooter and crutches and still carry that leadership role,” Gleeson said.

Despite this setback, Gleeson still made the drive to practices and continued to give pep-talks with teammates and answer any questions from younger players. His dedication did not go unnoticed, as he was chosen to be the assistant captain. 

“I am an aggressive player; I like to be physical,” Gleeson said. “I can promise you when I am on the ice, they will not score.”

Mugno is aware of the time demands that being a part of this team can have. Most high school-level players aren’t used to driving hours to practice just once a week.

“When someone comes to App and realizes they have to drive two hours each way, it can be kind of a big turnoff for them,” Mugno said. 

Mugno mentioned that there should never be someone coming to App State just to play hockey. Students need to love the school first, and playing hockey is an extra bonus. 

“It is definitely a lot to ask sometimes, but I just encourage everyone to come out and see a game,” Brady said. 

As the season opens, the team may be labeled as a club team, but the pride, dedication and power this sport holds tells a different story. 

“The amount of work we put in puts us outside the club realm,” Gleeson said.