Ice hockey is one of the oldest and most successful club sports at Georgetown, but few people even know the team exists.

When senior co-captain Sean Lynch (COL ’04) called to ask about the team after he was accepted to Georgetown, no one at the university could tell him anything about it, or even knew that there was a team, for that matter.

Once he arrived on campus and joined the team, it was evident why they received so little recognition.

“We played games in practice jerseys, our socks never matched,” Lynch said. “Basically, we just showed up and played.”

And while the team still receives little attention, the days of mismatched uniforms are over.

Since club sports received official recognition from the university in 2000, the program has used the raw talent they have always had to develop into a legitimate contender.

That year the team was named the Mason-Dixon League Champion and the team advanced to nationals in both 2001 and 2002.

Building from that success, this past season the team switched leagues and moved up a division, joining the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League at the Division II club level. Facing stiffer competition, including Duke, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech, Georgetown struggled early in the season to compete with the established and better-funded programs.

But, by the end of the season, the Hoyas had come around. They finished 8-4 in the conference and were the No. 3 seed in the ACCHL playoffs. After losing both games to N.C. State during regular season play, Georgetown upset the No. 2 Wolfpack in the semifinals to advance to the championship game.

Facing Duke in the final, the Hoyas fell in a heartbreaker, 3-2. The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead, but the Blue Devils came back in the first period to tie it at one. Later in the period, senior co-captain George Livadas (COL ’04) connected with Lynch for a shot that went into and out of the net so quickly it was not ruled a goal. The play changed the momentum of the game, and Duke went on to take the lead, holding it for the rest of the match.

Despite the tough loss, it was a good showing for the Hoyas in their first ACCHL tournament. After the win over NC State, both the commissioner of the league and the Wolfpack’s coach told the Georgetown squad how impressed they were with its play.

The Hoyas, however, are not content with simply maintaining the status quo. Each year the team has made progress and that is one tradition the team is intent on keeping.

“We wanted to leave the program better than we found it, and we’ve done that,” Lynch said.