Lauren Campbell
Equinox Staff
For the Keene State Hockey Club, winning is not the only important thing.
“I think our expectations are really high. We’re really excited about the team. Our team goal is to rank regionally, to make our league playoffs, and to also continue our strong academic record,” Club Hockey Coach Bobby Rodrigue said.
“The team works awfully hard in the classroom and on the ice. They certainly invest as much time, money, and energy as any other athlete in the campus,” Rodrigue added.
The Hockey Club has already started off their season with a 1-1 record after playing their first two away games.
Their first home game is Saturday, Oct. 29. With their first home game fast approaching, the team hopes to do as well as they did last year.
“Last season we were able to make the playoffs so we would obviously like to get back there. Besides playoffs I think it would be a huge step for our program to get regionally ranked,” Co-Captain and KSC senior Chase Caldwell said.
“We’ve got an extremely talented team this year. From top to bottom each guy is a big contributor to the team both on and off the ice,” Co-Captain Matt Gould added.
He said the team’s expectations are very high this year and continue to get higher each season. Gould said the team tries to take a positive approach to our season and each game, and even though most of the team’s opponents have a Division I team at their schools, KSC continues to compete every night and find success.
The dream team came together as soon as the tryouts were completed.
Rodrgue said there were about 45 kids who tried out this year, and he said he feels it was without question KSC’s most competitive tryout yet.
27 players made the cut, which is pretty typical for the team.
“There were several good hockey players on campus that didn’t even make the team because we have so many good hockey players here. It is unfortunate that we can’t take everyone, but there were just so many good hockey players on this campus right now,“ Rodrigue said.
“I think we have the team, coaching staff, and mind set to lead us in the right direction,” Gould added.
For the Hockey Club, the program seems to get bigger and bigger. Now the team is starting to play more games against bigger and better known teams.
“Our program continues to grow more and more each year and it is very apparent to those in the hockey community that many students want to come to Keene not only to attend the school, but to be a part of this growing program. I myself am a transfer to Keene and after one year at Johnson and Wales University I took a year off to play junior hockey and found myself coming to Keene to play hockey here and to help this program grow. Some people fail to realize that even though we are considered a club sport I, along with the other players and coaches, take hockey very seriously and we treat ourselves as student-athletes,“ Gould said.
In order for the team to grow even bigger, the team has been trying to advertise their games, and to get more people to attend them.
“We take advantage of advertising opportunities through the Student Center, and through the recreation facility. This year we’ve also got a PR (public relations) director. He’s a journalism and marketing student here at KSC, so this is going to be a great academic benefit for him, and a great social benefit for the team. Our website is also going to have more information on it than in the past, our Facebook page is growing rapidly, we’ve also got a Twitter account and a Youtube presence. So we’re actually making some pretty big strides in terms of how we get the team out there,” Rodrigue said.
“This year we also acquired an extremely valuable and respected part of our team and he is our communications manager for the team,” Gould added. “His name is Ray Waldron and is a student here at school. His love for the sport of hockey and his communications skills is allowing for him to promote our team, get our names out there, and to support our team. He has done an incredible job so far and I am very happy to have him around.”
When game time comes, the men are more than ready for a challenge.
They proved it last year by winning against teams from much bigger schools than Keene. This year they hope to prove their worth again.
Rodrigue said the team’s divisional games are the most important.
He said UVM and UMASS appear to perhaps be the strongest teams in KSC’s division this year, so they will have to really have to gear up for those games.
“The truth is every game, whether it’s against a strong opponent or a weak opponent, matters greatly in our ranking potential, so we’ve tried to keep the guys at least at an even keel so we can consider every game as equally important,” Rodrigue said.
“Divisional games are important; we are playing Bryant, Endicott, and Boston University for the first time this year, so those are important games for us. We only get to play 22 games so we look forward to every one of them,” Rodrigue said.
For now the main focus for these men is to win every game possible this season.
Another goal however is to someday become an official KSC sport.
“Keene State has a great hockey program here, and it continues to grow each year,” Gould said. “Our ultimate goal is to someday become a Division III sport here at Keene, and with all the pieces of the puzzle that we have right now, this goal could soon become a reality.”
Lauren Campbell can be contacted at lcampbell@ksc.mailcuiser.com