Team Overview: When is year two really year one? For head coach Neil Sinclair, he is entering his second season at Skidmore but has his first recruiting class coming on board to his program.
“This is my first recruiting class here because of the timing of getting the job when Coach Dion resigned,” Sinclair explained. “I am pleased with the quality of student-athlete we have brought in for this year’s class and think we will continue to make strides as a program — continually improve throughout the season, game by game. We have a good nucleus back including our senior captain Rob Hutchinson who led us in points (11-14-25) and had 4 shorthanded goals last season. In goal, we have Ted Levine back and I expect some good competition for playing time. It should be an exciting year and we are looking forward to pushing the tempo on ice — especially on our big rink.”
Sophomores Teddy Gowan (10-7-17) and Mike Gibbons (18-8-26) also figure to be part of an improved squad for the Thoroughbreds this season. “We had a couple of impressive freshman last year that hopefully can build on their success from the past season and contribute more in the system this year,” said Sinclair.
Special Teams: With only 68 total goals as a team, their 10 power play markers are just north of 10% of the total; improvement while a man up will be key this season. Also, Skidmore will need to cut down on the total goals against (124) and improve the penalty kill which last year gave up 34 power play goals to the opposition.
Schedule: After a tough opening road trip at St. Anselm’s and New England College, the Thoroughbreds host the Skidmore Invitational in November with Salve Regina, Cortland and Nichols providing some challenging opposition. In December Skidmore plays in the Codfish Bowl where they see Framingham State and either Suffolk or UMass-Boston.
Summary: It’s year two of building a program so the building blocks are being put in place. Look for heavy contributions from the freshman class and if the goaltending is solid, significant improvement ove last years six win total.
