While most college students will be home with
family for Thanksgiving weekend, the men’s hockey team will be with a family of
their own – their Golden Eagle brothers. The team travels to Vermont for the
Rutland Herald Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday they play the host team – Castleton. They
come into the tournament 0-6-1. Don’t let their record mislead you: Despite a
stretch of three losses where they allowed 5 goals in each game, they’ve played
some tight game of late, losing 1-0, 3-2, and 2-1. Their defensemen and smart two-way
forwards do not allow a lot of shots on goal. Manning that goal will be Brody
Wagner with a .895 save percentage and a 2.57 GAA -- he faces less than 24
shots a game, so the Golden Eagles will have their hands full getting to the
net.
On Saturday the Golden Eagles will play in either
the consolation game or the championship game. Their opponent will be either
Tufts or WNEU. The Tuft’s Jumbos are 0-1-1 after having won 9 games last
season. Players to watch are goalie Mason Pulde (.914 save percentage) and
sophomore Brian Brown who had 13 goals last season. WNEU is 0-7-0. They’ve scored
only 8 goals on the season.
I’ve always enjoyed listening to the Thanksgiving games
online. Coach Dickinson always uses the holiday weekend to be a mad scientist, experimenting
with different line-ups and trying out guys who might not have had a lot of ice
time to start the season. It always makes for interesting and hard-fought
games.
Brockport is surely the strongest of the 4 teams, so winning the tournament is not out of the question and could almost be expected.
