Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Athletics Department's season preview

After a tough season ending loss last year in the first round of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) playoffs, The College at Brockport ice hockey team will look to make a new stride in the 2017-2018 season and bring home a SUNYAC Championship.

Last season the Golden Eagles finish 11-14-1 and 7-9 in conference, which included an 8-4 win over Plattsburgh State who was ranked No. 15 in the country at the time.

The Green and Gold were tabbed fourth in the SUNYAC preseason poll earlier last week.

"We feel we are a top four program in our league," head coach Brian Dickinson stated. "We need to have an attitude that every game is a must win so that we don't get complacent and overlook anyone. Our league is competitive from top to bottom and if we don't come to play on any given night you run the risk of losing."

Brockport graduated two key seniors last season that will be tough to replace.

"Robbie Hall was our team's seventh player award winner last year for the player who played above all expectations, and a leader in the locker room," Dickinson noted. "We are looking at Brian Hurlimann, Connar Bass and Bryan Carville to step into the minutes Robbie lost. Jake Taylor had an outstanding year and was voted the team Most Valuable Player (MVP). Although that's a tough task to fill, we feel that we have a number of guys who have the ability to score the goals we lost with Jake."

The Brockport ice hockey program have eight seniors this year that will be looked at to lead the team this season. On the offensive side captain Aidan Verbeke, assistant captain Dylan Shapiro, Zac Sikich, David Horan, Matt Meredith, Ryan Kangas, and two defensemen, Hurlimann, and Brandon McMartin.

"We are senior heavy with a lot of returning parts to a team that finished the season on a sour note," Dickinson said. "We are excited into get back to the daily competition in practice, in hopes of challenging for a SUNYAC title at the end of the season."

Other top returners for the Golden Eagles on offense are former SUNYAC rookie of the year Tim Kielich, assistant captain and last year's leading scorer Connor Hutchins, and junior defensive men Bass. Both goal keepers Matt Schneider and Jake Moore will return in between the pipes for the Green and Gold.

The ice hockey team brings in eight newcomers to the program that will look to make an immediate impact on the ice, forwards Ethan Solat, Jeremy Solat, Danny Rock, Shane Visnick, Ryan Romeo, defensemen, Tyler Williams, Casey Winn, and goalie Sean Lincoln.

"The freshman class is deep with eight newcomers and many of them should expect to see significant time," Dickinson noted. "Ethan and Jeremy Solat, along with Rock and Visnick bring leadership and an offensive upside from their junior careers, where Romeo is an offensive defenseman who has the ability to create offense. Williams and Winn are good sized defensive men who will be looked to provide solid team defense."