The Lindenwood Lions men's ice hockey team represents the

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Charles, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1832 by George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley as The Lindenwood School for Girls, it is the second-oldest higher-education institution wes ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. The program had won four club National Championships prior to its promotion to varsity status.

History

ACHA Era

Lindenwood founded its men's program as a club team in 2003 in the

American Collegiate Hockey Association The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes quality in collegi ...

. From its inception, the Lions performed well on the ice, winning 25 out of 29 games in their first year. As the team's schedule increased in difficulty, head coach Derek Schaub kept the program in good standing with a 30-win season and championship game appearance in 2008. The following year, Lindenwood was a juggernaut, going 42–4 and winning their first championship while outscoring opponents 313 to 77. After a second dominating championship in 2010, Schaub stepped down and turned the team over to assistant coach and former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player,

Rick Zombo Richard James Zombo (born May 8, 1963) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 12 seasons between 1984 and 1996. He was the men's ice hockey head coach at Lindenwood University ...

. Under Zombo's leadership the Lions continued to be a national contender, reaching the championship in his first season and eventually winning their third title in 2016. Despite the men's team's achievements, they were overshadowed by the

women's team A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

, which had won three consecutive ACHA championships and had been promoted to Division I in 2011. In 2021, the school announced its plan to have the men's team finally follow the Lady Lions into the varsity ranks, and the program began to transition in that direction. While the school did not officially state that the team would be a Division I program in 2022, multiple news reports indicated the program was on track to secure the needed funding for this timeline. The team's home, the

Centene Community Ice Center The Centene Community Ice Center is a multi-purpose facility in Maryland Heights, Missouri in greater St. Louis. It is located off Highway 141 near Hollywood Casino St. Louis and the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. Built at a cost of $83 millio ...

, furthered the viability of a varsity program, as it held a seating capacity of 2,500 and was comparable to some other Division I arenas. In the 2021 offseason, the team also began seeing its first transfers into the program from Division I schools, demonstrating confidence in Lindenwood's progress. Lindenwood's promotion made the Lions the first Division I program in the

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

area since

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

discontinued their

program Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

in 1979. On March 23, 2022, Lindenwood officially announced that its men's ice hockey team would join Division I in the fall. The team finished its final club season with a 22–3 record and won their fourth ACHA National Championship.

NCAA Era

Lindenwood played their first NCAA hockey game, a 0–4 loss, against #2

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

on October 1, 2022. The team's first varsity win would come two weeks later in the form of a 7–6 home win against

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

. The Lions' first two seasons in Division I led to mixed results, as the team compiled a 13–40–5 record. Following the 2023–24 season, the university announced the firing of head coach Rick Zombo, ending his tenure at 14 seasons with the Lions as a head coach, between both ACHA and NCAA. On April 23, 2024, the university announced that they had hired

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

associate head coach

Bill Muckalt William Raymond Muckalt (born July 15, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who is currently the head coach at Michigan Tech. He was previously the associate head coach at Michigan. He was the head coach and general manager ...

as the second head coach in team history. The Lions' 2024–25 season immediately started on a high note, with the Lions earning a shocking 4–2 upset win at #9

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in their first game. This was the Lions' first ever win over a ranked opponent. After this victory, the Lions held a record of 1–0–0. To date, this is the only time the Lions have ever held a winning record at the varsity level. The Lions would finish the season with an 8–22–2 record, the most wins in team history. Following the season, Muckalt left the Lions to coach at

Michigan Tech Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...

. On June 7, 2025, former

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

associate head coach,

Keith Fisher Keith Fisher is an American ice hockey head coach of the Lindenwood Lions men's ice hockey team. Early life Fisher attended Cherry High School, where he played football. He then attended St. Cloud State University and graduated with a bachelor's ...

, was named the third head coach in team history. Lindenwood will be eligible for postseason participation in 2026–27.

Season-by-season results

Coaches

was retained as the team's head coach when it transitioned to Division I status in 2022. After two seasons, it was announced that he would not return. As of the completion of 2024–25 season

Roster

As of August 21, 2024.

Statistical leaders

Career points leaders

Career goaltending leaders

''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

'' minimum 900 minutes played Statistics current through the end of the 2024-25 season.

Lions in professional hockey

* Daniel Walcott,

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

currently playing for the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the ...

organization.

References

External links

Official Home Page
{{NCAA Division I ice hockey independents College ice hockey teams in Missouri NCAA Division I men's ice hockey teams 2003 establishments in Missouri Ice hockey clubs established in 2003