Out with the old and in with the new.
Tomorrow night Lynah Rink will once again be exorcise when the Red-White game faces-off at 7:00 p.m. The annual intrasquad scrimmage will give Lynah Faithful a glimpse at the men’s hockey team this year.
“Its huge coming back to Lynah after a full summer off,” junior forward Matt McRae said.
His twin brother, defenseman Mark, chimed in afterwards, “That’s what we worked hard for all summer — to come back and get another chance to play in front of our fans.”
After a season-ending loss to St. Lawrence at last year’s ECAC championship game, the Red returned to East Hill with increased fervor to make the trip back to Lake Placid and perhaps even the Frozen Four.
Head coach Mike Schafer ’86 was impressed with his team’s work ethic through the off season and the captains’ practices leading up to the beginning of camp.
“They’re in great shape. There’s not a whole lot of rust on our guys right now,” Schafer said. But with only four days of practice under its belt he noted that “there will be game rust. But I have a lot of confidence in our captains and our leadership.”
The men began official practices this past Monday at the same time as all other Ivy League teams were allowed to begin, giving them a disadvantage against some many of their ECAC counterparts who began playing non-conference games as early as Oct. 6.
However, the Red-White game will give the coaching staff and the team a more accurate idea of where it is and how much it needs to do before the season begins on Nov. 2 against Alabama-Huntsville. It will also be the first collegiate game-type situation for many of the recruits.
“We’re in an evaluation period right now. We’ve got a lot of fresh faces and they’ve done a great job so far,” Schafer boasts.
“For some this will be the biggest crowd they’ve played in front of — it’s just over a thousand people, so that will help them a lot.”
The game will consist of two 25 minute halves, and although Schafer hasn’t established lines, especially with additions from the Cornell hockey club team. One thing that will mostly likely remain constant is last year’s power play.
“We’ll start to establish a little bit of special teams — the power play units,” Schafer confessed. “You’ll see the one power play that was together last year: Doug Murray, Stephen B