In The News

January 30, 2003

Men's hockey team hits midway season unblemished

By Dale Mauldin
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

With a 12-0 record and the Times-Argus Championship under their belt at the midpoint of the season, there is not much for the members of the Norwich University Hockey team to complain about.

"I can't complain on how our team is looking, and it seems to be rolling pretty good right now," said assistant captain Marshal Lee, 24, a senior communications major from Calgary, Alberta.

Coach Mike McShane doesn't take their season for granted, knowing that there are still a lot of games ahead of him.

"We just try to take it one game at a time," said McShane.

The players also know that they still have a path ahead of them on their quest for another national championship.

"The first half was obviously tough, and the second half is going to be even tougher," said Chris Petracco, 23, a junior sports medicine major from Weston, Ontario.

"We have some tough games with some top 10 teams," said Bob Jaggard, 22, a junior computer information systems major from Dundas, Ontario.

Members of the Norwich hockey team have been working nearly non-stop since early September. While most of the student body was home enjoying their winter vacation, members of the hockey team were busy practicing and playing games.

"We're working hard every day. We want to get back to that national championship game; we want to bring that hardware home; we want those rings on our fingers," said Petracco.

All of the practice has paid off. The team is confident and eager for their next game, because they feel that each game is just one stop on the path to the national championships.

"With the team we have this year, it's even more powerful than last year's, and if we got to the final last year, we're expecting nothing less than a national championship this year," said Lee.

McShane sees most of the team's strength coming from their depth; he has five lines and knows that he can "play any of them at anytime."

"It doesn't matter who is in the lineup; it just seems to be like each line will do their job and put the puck in the net, or if they're a checking line they'll be hitting guys out," said Lee.

Last season's MVP, Kurtis McLean, is leading the team in scoring with 12 goals and 10 assists, according to www.collegehockeystats.com.

McLean doesn't do it all himself; he is assisted with great goaltending from Randy Heavy and great teamwork, according to McShane.

With all the talent on the team McShane said that they "spread the scoring around quite a bit" and that it hasn't been "just one line or one group."

Unlike last season, injuries have not been a factor.

According to Jaggard, most players have just been getting "banged up and bruised," not injured.

The team still has a few things it needs to work on.

According to McShane, the team occasionally has trouble "staying focused" and "keeping on the pressure" the way that they can.

However hard they are working on the ice, the team always enjoys having fans whenever they play at Kreitzberg Arena.

"We look forward to seeing all the students back, and hopefully we get them out to some of the games," said McShane.

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