Ice Knights skate to fresh success last season
Club team's winning record, playoff berth, awards accent high scoring year
that players hope to use as building block
Steven Williamson / Managing Editor
Issue
date: 5/5/08
It was the third period of the Rutgers University
club hockey team's game against league rival Drexel when it really hit head
coach Andy Gojdycz.
After the Ice Knights had amassed a 5-1 lead, Gojdycz turned to his assistant
coaching staff and simply said "Wow, we've really got a good team this
year." The Knights went on to win the game 7-4.
One season and a 20-8-2 record later, the team found themselves champions of
the Northeast Collegiate Hockey League after assembling the best record they
had seen in the past ten years.
Despite an early exit in the league playoffs after a 4-2 loss to SUNY Oswego,
the team remained optimistic about a season in which they were not expected to
go far. Only one year ago, the Knights finished one of the worst seasons in
recent history, where they failed to win more than ten games.
"Every goal was big this year," said team president Lou Taranto, a Rutgers College senior who played center for the
past four years on the banks. "It was such a turn around from last
year."
The team, which was unranked last year, rose to earn the title of the 28th best
club team in the country, Taranto
said.
"Unofficially, we were probably somewhere around 49th best last
year," Gojdycz said. "[The turnaround] is a huge
accomplishment."
The NECHL agreed, and responded by honoring Gojdycz with the Coach of the Year
award. But the coach said the team's success this year went far beyond their
record.
"The truth of the significance behind this season is that hockey is back
on track at Rutgers," Gojdycz said.
One of the team's main goals was to return recognition back to the club, the
coach said.
"Thanks to our success, we've generated more interest with incoming
players," he said. "We have kids who want to come here and play for
us next season."
Top teams from across the country have been contacting RU in hopes of adding
them to their schedule.
"We are truly putting Rutgers on the
map," Gojdycz said.
Taranto attributed the Knights' success to practice and hard
work, but also to a talented freshman class that helped to bolster the team's
offense and defense.
Freshman scorer Andrew Shapiro led the team with 41 points this season, 17 of
which were goals. The team's offense exploded midseason, with back-to-back
blowouts of St. Bonaventure where RU scored 17 goals over a span of two games.
The most exciting moment of the season came in the team's final game against
Penn State Berks, when Jeff Katz notched his second goal of the game in
overtime to cement the Knights in the number one spot.
Gojdycz said the team is only going to improve on the success the young class
of players brought them this year. Taranto
agreed.
"This year is the turning around point, and we're only going to build and
build," he said.
Gojdycz said after this year's success, his team is looking upward and not
turning back.
"We want to be in the top 12 national standings and we're setting our
sights as such," he said. "If we are regular season champs, we go to
the national championships."
The coach said the team now has three goals - getting to the tournament,
getting to nationals and winning them.
The team has a history of success, dating back to its first ever game in 1892.
Rutgers faced off against Princeton on the icy
surface of Weston's Mill Pond. When the game ended, the University stood
victorious, 4-2.
These days, the Ice Knights play in a new arena in Somerset off World's Fair Drive.
Taranto said he
hopes the team's recent success and new venue will help the Knights to develop
a large fan base.
"I hope next year we get a lot of students to come and show support for
the team and make notice of [our success]," he said. "People have a
good time and games are a fun experience. It's a lot of fun." |
