With the new season underway, the women of the club hockey team are excited and playing with more positive energy, compared to the negativity involved in the previous season.
“Coming back last season, I knew there was a lot of drama … my main focus was getting people ready to play hard,” captain Lauren White said. “I wanted to get ready to go back on the ice and have fun and get everyone else in that same mindset.”
The team has faced tough competitors so far, with games against the University at Buffalo and the Naval Academy. The games did not end well with three losses by a combined score of 10-2. Despite this, the team knows what it needs to do moving forward in their league.
“Consistency. We didn’t start good enough especially in the league game. We knew what we were going to see and we played 75% of the game poorly,” head coach Cole Parzych said. “We eventually turned it on we just couldn’t beat their goaltender. Consistency is the biggest thing.”
Key offensive components have been added to the roster. Nicole Moriarity, a transfer sophomore, has been huge for the Lakers.
“She’s been huge, one of the smartest hockey players I’ve ever coached,” Parzych said. “She knows where to be and is willing to do whatever it takes to play in all situations.”
Moriarity has also practiced with the women’s NCAA Div. III team, but decided to stay and play with the ACHA team.
“The practices were longer [for Div. III], they were able to obviously fit in more drills,” Moriarity said. “It was a higher pace definitely.”
Losing over five offensive players from the 2018 season and with key games ahead, including one against the defending league champions University at Buffalo, the Lakers plan on generating offense in order to come out on top.
“We did lose some key fire power from last year, but we are going to get pucks deep and work with our points,” Parzych said. “Just create havoc in front of the net, [playing] a dirty style of hockey is basically what we are looking for.”
The Lakers are coming off of a tough two-game series loss from the previous weekend against the University at Buffalo. They remain confident going into the rest of the season and are looking to improve their record from last year.
“We can’t play down to other teams levels, if a team is moving slowly we tend to move slowly,” senior Maddie Block said. “We have to be confident with our team and with each other.”
Going forth with the rest of the season, the Lakers are looking to achieve their goal of getting better every day. With hard work, Parzych knows they can get there by the end of the season.
“We want to get better every single day,” Parzych said. “I don’t really believe in long- term goals. I think that if you just focus on what you’re doing next then right now you will be a lot better off, eventually by the end of the year we will be where we want to be.”
The team plans on getting better through every practice, drill and off-ice training. The players are very dedicated and looking to improve on their skills every day. Multiple new girls have joined the team this year and have been key additions to the lineup.
“Since it’s the beginning of the season and there’s new girls, we are working on on-ice communication, we have been trying to find chemistry within each other on the ice,” Block said.
There is much to be changed from last season that does not just involve the league record.
“We don’t want negativity. Keep that to the back of your mind,” White said. “Just making sure everyone feels comfortable and is able to talk to anyone if there is an issue.”
Photo by Ben Grieco | The Oswegonian
