Passion. Brotherhood. Commitment.

These were the first three words Purple Heart award winner and former United States Army Special Operations member Sam Cila said to the Oswego State men’s ice hockey team Monday afternoon in the basement of Laker Hall. These were also the words imprinted on the players shirts as they prepared for their first day, or “Judgement Day.”

“I will accomplish the mission. I will commit. I will never fail. I will never leave a brother behind.”

Cila and his partner, Reid Eichelberger, are employees of an organization called The Program that trains and develops collegiate athletes and teams to install a winning culture.

Both men have extensive military background and are elite endurance athletes.

Their program has worked with over 200 colleges and universities training thousands of student-athletes like former Heisman Trophy winner and current NFL quarterback Marcus Mariota, while also working with professional teams like the Boston Bruins.

Oswego State’s head coach Ed Gosek and assistant coach Mark Digby brought in Cila and Eichelberger to train the team and give them extra motivation heading into the 2015-2016 season.

The Lakers missed the Frozen Four for the first time in five years last spring and are looking to return to elite status in Div. III.

At the beginning of the training, the team gathered to discuss the training and the leadership skills they would learn over the course of the training.

“Leadership, by definition, is nothing more than influence,” Cila said. “What matters is how we use the influence we have.”

When Cila and Eichelberger brought the team into Romney Field House, they added their own component to the drills that pushes the players just a little farther. Rather than running 5, 10, 20 and 40 yard incriments, The Program adds one more yards and makes the athletes run six, 11, 21 and 41 yards.

“At The Program, we define work as one more,” Cila said.

The extra yard on each sprint was just to put an extra element into the workout.

After warmups and sprints, the team performed a series of military-style drills with a designated leader running the exercise. The three players chosen to lead the team were the captains this year, defensemen Chris Raguseo and Mac Scott and forward Brandon Adams.

“It’s definitely a learning curve,” Raguseo said. “We improved in every activity as time went on. It’s that feedback, you learn from your mistakes and that’s the biggest thing you can do.”

Adams agreed with how being seen as a leader from his team at that time was a work in progress, yet he learned how to handle the pressure.

“It’s a lot of learning on the fly and adjusting,” Adams said. “Making sure that you’re doing what you need to do and everyone is doing what they need to do as well.”

On the second day, the Lakers were at Laker Hall before 5 a.m. and although sore from the previous day, they had another morning workout. The team was again put through a series of intense workouts, but this time inside of the pool.

“It was something I’ve never done before,” junior Matt Galati said. “I learned I can’t swim.”

Although some players struggled with the activities in the pool, everyone helped each other out and the Lakers improved their time with every activity as they had the day before.

“I don’t want to let any of my teammates down,” sophomore Mitchell Herlihey said. “When I was the last one, I felt really bad. I think it’s going to translate on to the ice because I’m not going to back down on anything.”

At the end of the training, Cila and Eichelberger chose one player to give their original “The Program” shirt too. The shirt isn’t for purchase anywhere and only those few selected can have the honor of wearing the shirt after it has been given to them.

Cila and Eichelberger chose Raguseo as the recipient, after he was chosen to lead most of the drills for the team and felt that he fulfilled the role to the best of his ability.

“It’s an honor,” Raguseo said. “I owe it all to the guys, I couldn’t have done it without them. It takes more than one guy to be at the top.”

Raguseo overall was pleased with how the two days went and what it meant for not only himself going forward, but his team as well.

“The way they put it together, the way they structured it, the way they push you is second to none,” he said. “There’s so much that I took from this personally and team-wise.”

Although many players did not know what to expect from The Program, they all felt that they learned something either individually or as a team.

“I didn’t have expectations, this was completely new,” junior goalie Matt Zawadski said. “It was great for me. I learned a lot about myself and the team. It let us take the next step forward.”