On Nov. 21, the St. Michael’s College men’s ice hockey team played its first home game since a March victory against St. Anselm College in the Northeast-10 Conference championship. The beginning of the 2008-2009 season has people buzzing about this year’s squad; there is a certain excitement in the air.
10 seasons for Coach Davidson
Coach Chris Davidson is entering his 10th season as a coach of the hockey team and his second season as head coach since taking over for Lou DiMasi. With one NE-10 title already under his belt, Davidson is looking for another.
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The team lines up for a center-ice face-off against Salem State.
(Photo by Megan Davin) |
“The big goal obviously is to win the Northeast-10 again, the conference regular season as well in the conference championship,” Davidson says. “If you’re not setting your goals that high, then you are sort of losing focus on what you are really trying to achieve.”
The road to a second straight title will be tough. The conference is comprised of five other schools: St. Anselm College, Franklin Pierce University, Southern New Hampshire University, Stonehill College, and Assumption College. These teams have all shown great strengths in past years, Davidson says.
“The competition is strong,” Davidson says. “I hope that we can come and play hard every night so that we can compete and regain the title.”
Returning a championship-caliber team
This year’s squad is very similar to that of last year’s championship team. Last season there were a mere four seniors on the team compared to the seven they have this year. This seniority and maturity in its players indicates no lack of experience, a fact that will pay off on the ice, senior captain Chris Healey says.
“One of our team's greatest strengths are the number of returning guys this season,” Healey says. “Because of that, nearly everyone on the team knows the coach’s systems and what he expects of us and that we will not have to teach this to too many new guys.”
Although there is an added padding with the many returning players this season, the large task of replacing talent that has moved on always presents a challenge to any team, Davidson admits.
“I think we did pretty good,” Davidson says, “We are obviously going to miss guys like Eric Caron, Dan Anctil, Matt Hall, and Andrick Deppmeyer, but with the news guys coming in like Zach Gieszler, Reave Mackinnon, Tim Geverd, Brady Earle, and Trevor Pawliczka, we should be able to maintain where we finished last year and hopefully take it up a step with the guys who are returning.”
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Goaltender Tyler Bilton prepares to make a save against Salem State.
(Photo by Megan Davin) |
A lot of hype has surrounded this year’s new players, especially in regard to third-year transfer from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Zach Giezler.
“Hopefully I will be able to put up some good numbers and help our team win," Giezler says.
Giezler is one of a handful of students who have transferred to the team. Although he has not had the opportunity to spend much time with the team, Giezler says the adjustment is going well.
“This is my third college in four years, but the guys here are real good guys and class-acts, so it has been an easy transition,” Giezler says.” I’ve played on teams where there is no chemistry at all, and it is good to see that there is a good camaraderie between the players here.”
Tough start, but optimisitc nonetheless
The team is currently holding a record of 1-4. The season started off with two tough losses to Salem State College in Massachusetts and the University of Southern Maine. However, the team bounced back and defeated Assumption College in a convincing 5-2 victory on the road.
"I think with the coaching staff and the group of returning players, we have a lot of talent on the team this year, and I think we will go far once again this season." |
- assistant captain Ryan Mero |
On Friday, Dec. 5, the Purple Knights faced off against Amherst College in Massachusetts and then travelled to Hamilton College in New York for a game the following night. The team dropped both games by scores of 4-2 and 6-3, respectively.
Senior forward and assistant captain Ryan Mero is confident that the St. Michael’s team will have a successful 2008-2009 campaign.
“Well, we got off to a rocky start on the opening weekend, but after last week’s win, I think that we are back on track,” Mero says. “We started out the same way last year, so I have high hopes for the season."
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