Pine Creek hockey captain Henry Hoghaug excels on ice and in business leadership roles

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Henry Hoghaug stands out as more than just an exceptional hockey player for the third-ranked Pine Creek Eagles. The senior team captain has emerged as one of Colorado's most well-rounded student-athletes, balancing athletic excellence with business leadership and community service.

Hoghaug has led Pine Creek to an impressive 8-0-1 record this season while ranking as one of the top five goal scorers in the state.

"Growing up in Minnesota, I got on skates when I was about four years old and I've been playing ever since then," said Hoghaug. "I've bounced around from the club level to now the high school level and it's been really cool to travel for a sport and then comeback to play for a hometown team and see success with that."

But his achievements extend far beyond the ice rink. At just 14 years old, Hoghaug demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit by starting his own landscaping business when he was too young for traditional employment.

"I opened my own landscaping business and with that, I grew it to 30 weekly clients that I served their yards and did numerous things for them," said Hoghaug. "That experience, running my own business and managing clients, really helped me to learn what that would look like on a larger scale."

Hoghaug serves as a leader in five different organizations.

He's a member of the National Honor Society and Future Business Leaders of America, while also serving as finance officer for DECA, a global organization that prepares emerging entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance and management.

"I manage the money coming in and out for DECA. Especially focused more on fundraising," said Hoghaug. "We do a lot of fundraising aspects to gain money for our chapter that ultimately gets put back into the chapter for further growth."

As a member of student senate, Hoghaug served as the chair in organizing a breakfast for 100 first responders, demonstrating his commitment to community service.

"Giving back to them has always been really meaningful to me with all they do for our city, and now in even harder times for them to accomplish their job," said Hoghaug. "It's really important to me to make sure they feel seen."

Hoghaug also serves as president of the Colorado Springs chapter for the Young Men's Service League, a nonprofit organization where young men and their mothers focus on community service.

"We volunteer at numerous places, soup kitchen and things like that," said Hoghaug. "I get to work with my mom which is a really cool experience to volunteer with my mom and see what other parts of our community look like and areas where they can be improved.

All of Hoghaug's diverse experiences contribute to his leadership on the hockey team.

"I pick up little traits from each of those things that I do," said Hoghaug. "I pick up empathy from volunteering and serving at soup kitchens and I pick up traits of strong leadership in the DECA world and thinking on my feet. All of that has come together for me really nicely to help me lead this hockey team and I think that's been the greatest product of all those things combined."

After graduation, Hoghaug will attend the University of Colorado Boulder to pursue a business degree, with hopes of eventually owning his own company.

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