Ice hockey for students at St. Francis DeSales High School (DHS) started seven years before there was ever a Stallions Ice Hockey team. The first Westerville Warcats team had eight members of their roster from DHS. The purple mane of the warcat on the logo that remains today is homage to the contribution DHS made to the Warcats.

It was not until 2003 that then school Principal Pat Rossetti and Athletic Director Nick Magistale looked within the school halls for someone who had some knowledge of the game. It came to the ear of Rossetti and Magistale that Ben Janszen, an eighth grader who would be attending DHS in the fall, was playing hockey in a Columbus travel league.

Rossetti and Magistale approached Janszen's parents Joe and Lisa for some guidance and asked if they would help with the development of a school ice hockey team. The Janszen's committed to helping, and Lisa who is the team's current general manager, continues her dedication to the team as a "labor of love."

Lisa Janszen turned to Coleman Clougherty for help. Clougherty had previously been involved with youth hockey in Pennsylvania and Central Ohio. He helped start the Greater Columbus High School Hockey League and subsequently began the program for St. Charles High School. Lisa Janszen says of his early help; "He helped me find a coach, gave me a budget to follow, brought me into meetings with other high school programs, and put me in contact with people at the Chiller LLC that schedule ice for practices and games."

The start of the 2004 school year not only brought about change in the seasons but in the school's leadership as well. Dan Garrick took over the helm for the retiring Rossetti and Mike Asbeck now led the Athletic Department. "With the growth and the passion for ice hockey in the Central Ohio area it was exciting to know that DHS was going to add to it;" says Principal Garrick.

The winter quarter brought about the first Stallions' hockey team as a Junior Varsity (JV) member of the Capital Hockey Conference (CHC). The high school conference is made up of JV and varsity high school teams from the Columbus, Ohio area.

This first team was comprised of 17 players from DHS, other high schools and area grade schools. The team's dedication to making hockey at DHS a success and formidable play earned them a 3rd place finish in the CHC.

"The following season (2005-06) was easier as we had a program in place." (Lisa) Janszen continues; "many of the 8th graders were now students at DeSales. Our coaching staff returned and everyone knew what to expect."

The team participated in out of town tournaments and faced some additional tough opponents in their second year as a JV team. A highlight of the season was their second place finish at the Walter Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament after taking the tournament host (Strongsville Mustangs) to double overtime. The team finished the 2005-06 season in the number one JV spot in the CHC.

In March of 2006, the DHS administration gave the go head to make hockey a varsity sport. "The hockey program showed that it was in good shape and could sustain itself. The previous success of the team coupled with the community's interest in the sport made it an easy decision to include ice hockey as a varsity sport at St. Francis DeSales;" says Athletic Director Asbeck.

Janszen solidified a varsity coaching staff that included head coach Greg Andreason, assistants Tom Maxwell, Jeff Rogers and goalie coach Jon Edwards.

Principal Garrick said of the high school's hockey program on the team's first home game; "St. Francis DeSales has always taken great pride in the comprehensive nature of their Athletic program and the birth of a new varsity program has the administrators, teachers and student body very excited. Given what I have witnessed with those associated with the program it should be a brief period of time before Stallions' hockey is competing at the level of excellence associated with all of our programs. I look forward with great anticipation to this growth."

2006-07 Inagrual Varsity Team
Front Row: Taylor Janszen, Paul Tavella, Jake Vasbinder, Ben Janszen
Second Row: Josh Stemen, Pat Slattery, Ryan Williamson, Andrew Perise, Colton Mieskoski, Josh Janszen, Joe Salenro, Cory Larkin
Back Row: Coach Edwards, Dan Hwang, Ian Schnied, Luke Dejarme, Matt Farkas, Eman Carr, Corbin Steinhaus, Shane Dalluge, Mike Willoughby, Coach Andreason
Not shown: Coach Maxwell

Prior to the 2007-08 season, Athletic Director Asbeck promoted Coach Maxwell to the head coaching position following Coach Andreason's departure of the program to better serve the country as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army. Most recently the Stallions Ice Hockey program has added a Junior Varsity team.