Norwich<\/a>, the team lacked depth and struggled with injuries all season.<\/p>\nWilson said, “I think if we stay healthy, that we will be a much better team than we were last year. I think that is as important as anything else.”<\/p>\n
Injuries particularly plagued the Tiger defense. After being injured in the first game last season, Jerry Galway returns even stronger this year, and is expected to lead RIT’s defense.<\/p>\n
“These guys are going to be way better than they were last year, because we are going to be playing with defensemen instead of shuttling forwards back to defense,” said Wilson.<\/p>\n
Wilson spent most of his recruiting efforts on defense, trying to rebuild both depth and skill into that aspect of the team. Matt Moore (Brampton Capitals), Ryan Franke (St. Thomas Stars), Mike Walling (Chatham Maroons) and Ryan Fairbarn (Georgetown Raiders) joined the Tigers at the blueline this season.<\/p>\n
“[The freshman are] guys that you are going to see a lot of, and I think they are going to be all-League type of players,” said Wilson.<\/p>\n
Jerry Galway and Derek Hahn will be co-captains this season.<\/p>\n
“It’s [sophomore goalie Tyler Euverman’s] job, he’s earned it. What impressed me the most last year was that he even played better in big games,” said Wilson. Euverman garnered a .920 save percentage and 2.71 GAA in 27 games last season.<\/p>\n
Backup netminder Chris Sherman is still recovering from an injury and won’t be ready to go until a few weeks in to the season. So the Tigers will be relying on walk-on Rob Boope for Euverman’s backup.<\/p>\n
“Rob played for all of the top Chicago teams. I think he is really going to challenge for a position with the team, ” said Wilson.<\/p>\n
With only nine home games this season, RIT continues to struggle with its schedule. <\/p>\n
“Teams have to want to come here to play,” said Wilson. “Teams don’t really need us, the way our league is. I would like to get reciprocating agreements. My record is irrelevant to me, and winning some games by big scores isn’t helping me or the team prepare for down the road.”<\/p>\n
There may be light at the end of the tunnel for RIT and its fans, as several nationally ranked teams have already signed up to travel to Rochester during the 2001-02 season.<\/p>\n
3. Manhattanville<\/b><\/p>\n
In its second season, the Valiants are still a young team. But Head Coach Keith Levinthal expects his second recruiting class to raise the skill level of his program.<\/p>\n
“I think one of the biggest things that would be different from last year is that we should be a little more talented up front. But we still have an awful lot of question marks as we are still really young,” said Levinthal.<\/p>\n
Manhattanville’s leading scorer, Tommy Prate (25-14-39) returns in perhaps the best shape of his life. Levinthal also expects Ray Williams (4-1-5), who only played the second half of last season, to have a much larger impact.<\/p>\n
“[Williams is], without a doubt, our best all-around player,” said Levinthal. “We expect a pretty competitive environment amongst ourselves for each of the positions. <\/p>\n
Mike Nason (Oshawa Legionnaires) and David Schmalenberg (Notre Dame Hounds) are two offensive recruits that Levinthal expects to make an immediate impact.<\/p>\n
In net, Rob McShane (.887 save pct, 4.33 GAA) and Jeremy Hill (.870, 4.51) shared duties and posted almost identical statistics.<\/p>\n
“I think that we would like to settle on a No. 1, have someone step forward and take the position,” said Levinthal. “But we will have to see what happens. It is still a position of question.”<\/p>\n
Manhattanville scheduled an early challenge this season, playing at RIT on Nov. 3, just the Valiants’ second game of the season.<\/p>\n
“We hope that that game will help prepare us for games later in the season. Those are the games where you learn a lot,” said Levinthal. “We are still very, very young. We have a policy here: ‘Anyplace, anywhere, anytime, we’ll play you,'”.<\/p>\n
The Valiants will look to improve on their 8-17-1 record last season as they continue to build their young team. Damon Iannillo will be team captain this season, with John Auxier as an assistant captain.<\/p>\n
4. Hobart<\/b><\/p>\n
Fresh start is the key word around the Hobart hockey team this season. New Head Coach Mark Taylor, formerly an assistant coach at UMass-Lowell, arrived at the school at the end of August and is quickly getting up to speed with his new team.<\/p>\n
“I would have loved to have taken over the job in early spring from a recruiting standpoint, but it doesn’t really affect my plans for the season,” said Taylor.<\/p>\n
\n"I told the kids, I’m not going to make any promises other than we’re going to get better and we’re going to love coming to the rink."<\/p>\n
— new Hobart coach Mark Taylor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A 1985 graduate of Elmira, Taylor was the Soaring Eagles’ MVP and an all-ECAC selection his senior year.<\/p>\n
“I’m excited to get back to the league, it holds a lot of good memories for me,” said Taylor.<\/p>\n
One quick challenge for Taylor will be to figure out where the Statesmen offense will come from. For the past four seasons, Travis Finkle (13-27-40) has led Hobart in all offensive categories. Finkle also replaced Keith Levinthal (now Manhattanville’s head coach) as the all-time scoring leader at Hobart with 155 points. Now, without Finkle, other players on Hobart will have to fill the void.<\/p>\n
“Someone is going to rise to the occasion, or some group of guys is going to rise to the occasion,” said Taylor.<\/p>\n
Hobart has ten freshmen recruits in school this fall, all recruited by former coach Bill Greer before he resigned. When asked to talk about the recruits, Taylor responded, “With the freshman kids coming in, I think it would be unfair to name names. It’s kind of an open door this year.”<\/p>\n
We will all need to keep an eye on the Statesmen to see who emerges in the scoring role.<\/p>\n
Tim McCarthy has been tapped to be the team captain this season.<\/p>\n
“For me, my whole philosophy is that you have to have a commitment to defense and a passion for offense,” said Taylor as he talked about the style of team that he wants to develop. “My style of play is going to be a read-and-react, up-tempo, in-your-face game.”<\/p>\n
In addition to change on the team and behind the bench, improvements to the community rink where Hobart plays are under way as well. Hobart has plans to add a varsity room onto the Northern end of the rink. These facilities will include a team locker room, coach’s office, and trainer’s room. Construction is scheduled to begin next spring.<\/p>\n
“I told the kids, I’m not going to make any promises other than we’re going to get better and we’re going to love coming to the rink,” concluded Taylor. “I want the university, town, alumni and friends to be proud and excited about Hobart hockey and the student-athletes here.”<\/p>\n
Expansion<\/h4>\n
It appears that the long-awaited expansion of the ECAC West is finally going to occur for the 2001-02 season. Neumann, currently an ECAC independent, will join the league as a provisional member. Neumann will enjoy full participation and voting rights in the league, but their membership will be reviewed after three years to ensure certain budgetary promises are kept and levels of competitiveness are maintained.<\/p>\n
Utica will also be joining the league next season. Utica, a satellite school of Syracuse University, is starting a new D-III men’s and women’s ice hockey program. Utica recently named Gary Heenan, formerly an assistant coach at Hamilton, as its men’s coach.<\/p>\n
This expansion will hopefully help to return the ECAC West to the premiere levels of D-III hockey once again. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With expansion on the horizon for next season, the ECAC West prepares for battle, with RIT and Elmira again expected to fight things out for the top spot. Meanwhile, Hobart, under new coach Mark Taylor, and second-year Manhattenville, look to make an impression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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