A native of International Falls, Minnesota, Dr. Caple established the Lumberjack club hockey program in Flagstaff, Arizona while teaching at NAU as a chemistry professor.

[2] With the popularity of the club increasing, the team moved into the much larger Walkup Skydome in 1977 and, with continued interest, the university began sponsoring the program as a Division I sport in 1981.

[3] Northern Arizona was handicapped with a difficult travel schedule but the school was still supportive of their fledgling program and the Lumberjacks made strides, improving by 11 wins in their second year.

Head coach Jimmy Peters Jr. got the team up to 21 wins before leaving the program in 1984 and was replaced by John Mason.

After several years of nonexistence the program was brought back in 1991 as a club sport and returned to the Flagstaff Ice Rink (since renamed the Jay Lively Activity Center) where it continues as two separate ACHA teams.