Under the leadership of former Icepack president Parker Szarek, last year’s team became the first in Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL) history to win four consecutive league championships. With Szarek’s graduation, there are some big skates to fill coming into the 2022-23 season, when the program’s expectations are higher than ever before.

No one was more qualified for the presidency than senior defenseman Victor Hugo: a two-time national champion with the Washington Little Capitals AAA team as well as former public events coordinator and vice president of the Icepack. He scored three goals and recorded 16 assists last season.

Although he was born and raised in Arlington, Virgina, Hugo still possesses a deep and growing passion for NC State.

“I didn’t really want to go the junior hockey route and I wanted to take a step back and enjoy the game because the travel hockey schedule was just too much at times,” Hugo said. “I saw NC State had a hockey team and I just thought it was a perfect match. I loved both the campus and the Raleigh area when I visited, so I thought it was a dream come true when I tried out and made the team.”

From that point on, Hugo knew he wanted to assume a larger role on his squad and was mentored by some former players to take on the challenges of leading a team.

“I became close with former president Ian O’Rourke and defenseman Devin Halko back in my freshman and sophomore years and they were the ones that got me set up as the Public Events Coordinator … That carried on to my junior year when Parker Szarek was the president,” Hugo said. “Parker helped me a lot and became a great mentor. He showed me how the operations of being president worked back when I was the vice president, so I feel pretty comfortable with what the day-to-day operations would look like coming into my new role.”

On the ice, Hugo wants to see his team continue their long run of success.

“I want what’s best for the team and to keep our hot streak going,” Hugo said. “I would love to get five championships in a row and make myself go four for four. Last year we unfortunately did not make nationals so that is definitely on our minds, and I think we will have a good team to make a deep run this year.”

Already under Hugo’s leadership, the team has had a few summer skates with interested players, prepping for team tryouts in late August.

As the new slate of games quickly approaches, Hugo and the team are looking to build off the successes of the previous four seasons and extend their ACCHL championship winning streak to five in a row.