Three months after Keene State Athletics announced the hiring of coaches for the women and men’s varsity hockey teams, both coaches said the recruitment process so far has been going smoothly.
“It’s been great, we’ve been really proud because we’ve had a lot of really great prospective student-athletes coming to campus … they’ve been [impressed] with the campus, with the community and with the rink,” said men’s varsity hockey coach Bobby Rodrigue.
Rodrigue currently coaches men’s club hockey at Keene State but now will take on the new responsibility of building and coaching the men’s varsity team.
“I’m coaching the club team through the remainder of this season and we’re working on a transition plan for a new coach for the club team for next season,” Rodrigue said.
With recruitment, Rodrigue said he has, “Been aware of athletes through our scouting that we wanted to contact … We connect with other coaches and talk about their players and that’s how relationships get started.”
So far, Rodrigue has been “talking with over 200 athletes” and considered whether or not these prospective athletes are a suitable fit.
“Are they the right fit for us? Are we the right fit for them?” Rodrigue said. “We’re trying to find a good fit for both the athlete and the team, the school.”
Even though Keene State is a stranger to having a varsity women’s hockey team, coach Rob Morgan is no stranger to building a team up from the bottom.
“I went to Illinois University and started that program from scratch,” Morgan said.
Morgan said, “Recruiting is going very well and we’ll have student athletes here from as far as Western Canada to Atlantic Canada … student athletes from all over the United States, different states, and there’s likely going to be a couple of Europeans in the mix.”
He added, “The momentum has really taken off here, especially in the last couple of weeks, so it’s been obviously a lot of hard work, but it’s been very exciting and motivating.”
With creating this team, Morgan is most excited to, “Establish what our team culture and our identity is going to be … It’s like having a blank canvas, you’re going to paint this picture, you’re going to build a house.”
Morgan continued, “Experiencing the joy and victory, sometimes the tears and defeat, it’s a real special time and yes there’s going to be challenges along the way, peaks and valleys, but we’re definitely looking forward to becoming the best we can be.”
Athletic Director Marty Testo said both teams are still on track to begin playing for the 2024-2025 season.
“Both [teams are] working on their schedules, we anticipate a varsity schedule for both teams 24-25, next fall,” Testo said.
According to Testo, Student Involvement will be searching for a new coach to replace Rodrigue after this season concludes.
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
