While the body of work included wins over other NCAA tournament teams like Geneseo and Babson, Elmira finds a very familiar opponent from their current conference and dating back to the days of the old ECAC West in Saturday’s first round NCAA matchup. It’s their biggest and oldest rival, Hobart on the schedule and the Soaring Eagles are excited for the game.
“We didn’t have it go our way in the conference tournament losing to a very good Babson team,” said head coach Aaron Saul. “But we thought we had a good enough body of work to earn the at-large bid. You always think you can get it in, but we were nervous with the games on Saturday and right up to the announcement. Now it’s a new season. Everyone is 0-0. We need to win four games to claim the prize but right now we are focused on Saturday and an opponent we are very familiar with in Hobart. We don’t need film having played them twice already and we know their rink will have a charged atmosphere, but we are ready to play. It should be great.”
Elmira split a home-and-home series with Hobart back in late January with the visiting team winning each game. The Soaring Eagles come to the national tournament having joined the NEHC after winning the UCHC tournament last year in the only conference contested in the east. The young roster has continued to develop, and the coaching staff feels like the experience garnered in last year’s playoffs and tough NEHC schedule this season has helped prepare them for what is ahead.
“We learned the very first weekend on the road against Babson and Southern Maine that this league was going to push us to be good every night,” noted Saul. “I think once we got that in our mindset the season seemed to take-off for us. Playing Hobart is very familiar, and we know how they like to play. It adds some extra spice to the first round game playing a longtime rival but that is what makes this time of the year so great. There are only 12 teams left and you are going to have to beat someone really good to move on.”
Elmira used to be a “Big Line” team just a couple of seasons ago, but this year’s roster brings depth and balanced scoring. Eight players have recorded more than 20 points while Chance Gorman (12-17-29; +21), Shawn Kennedy (16-12-28; +11), Janis Vizbelis (15-13-28; +15) and Bailey Krawczyk (12-14-26; +9) have all scored more than ten goals and accounted for 19 of the teams’ 31 power play tallies.
“The young guys have come along well over the past two seasons,” stated Saul. “It takes experience to do well in a national tournament and we can lean on Adam Eby (5-2-7; +5) and goaltender Chris Janzen (2.47 GAA; .918 SP) who were such a big part of our winning the UCHC last year. We are in a good routine preparing to play since our loss in the conference tournament and can’t wait to play our old rivals at Hobart on Saturday.”
