The Grand Valley Roller Hockey Club is a competitive sports club at Grand Valley State University. The club is composed of two teams, an "A" team and "B" team. Both Teams compete in the Midwest Collegiate Roller Hockey League (MCRHL) as member teams of the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA). The club's teams compete against other colleges from the Midwest on a regular basis during "Hockey Weekends" that feature league games between member teams of the MCRHL. The Laker's home rink is Rivertown Sports, located in Grandville, MI.

Club History

The club was founded in 2005 by Steve Harford. In its first year of existence, the club was represented by one team. The team participated in the MCRHL as an affiliate club, a team in its first year of competition. Competing against "B" teams from the region, the Lakers won the B Regional Championship. The team ended the year with a record of 11-3-3 with all three of their only losses coming to Macomb CC early in the season. The Lakers team excelled late in the season and was to beat the Macomb CC Monarchs two times in the quarter finals and once again in the semi finals of the regional playoffs to advance to the regional championship against Western Michigan. The Lakers won the evenly matched game by a score of 6-5 to claim the title.

In 2006/2007, the club's second year as a member of the NCRHA, the decision was made to field two teams to compete in the MCRHL. The Lakers' "A" team was bumped to Division II play while the teams newly founded "B" team participated in the MCRHL B League. This year was not very successful for either team and both teams ended the season with marginal records. The A team (DII) finished the season with 4 wins and 16 losses. The B team finished with a record of 2 wins and 12 losses.

The 2007/2008 season started out well for both teams. On November 3rd and 4th, The DII team opened their season with 3 wins, 1 loss, and 2 ties in their opening weekend. The Lakers' B team had a strong performance as well, coming out with 1 win, 2 losses, and 1 tie in the opening weekend. The DII team continued their success well into the season, putting together a 10 game winning streak and 12 game unbeaten streak that started on the first day of the season before hitting a road block against Ohio State that sent them into a 4 game losing skid. The team pulled it back together and ended the season with 2 wins. The B team greatly improved on the 2006/2007 team's record by finishing with a total record of 5 wins, 8 losses and 1 tie. With a regular season record of 13-5-2, the DII team earned an invitation to the Collegiate Roller Hockey National Championships in Colorado Springs, CO. Adding to their current winning streak, the Lakers won two straight to start pool play at the National championships, with their third pool play game ending in a tie. The team had a disappointing elimination from championship contention after losing their first playoff game. The DII team ended their season with a final record of 15-6-3.