Feb. 12, 2016
the Racquette
Men’s Ice Hockey Team Determined to End Season Strong Forest Ashley Staff Writer
Early in the 2015- 2016 Men’s Ice Hockey season, The SUNY Potsdam Bears were ranked 12 in the nation for Division 3 Hockey, according to USCHO rankings. The ranking was a huge achievement for the Men’s Ice Hockey Team. The team is no longer ranked however, but that matters little to the fans who show up to the home games in Maxcy Hall, players who play their hardest each game and Head Coach Christopher Bernard, who captures and utilizes the athlete’s potential. “To achieve that is not an easy thing to do,” said Sophomore Brendan McMenimen, goalie for the Potsdam Men’s Ice Hockey team. “That showed what we [the team] could do.” While the team in no longer ranked, they are still determined to play their hardest and make it to the playoffs, hoping that they will have a home game advantage. Sophomore Dylan Vander Esch, leading scorer for the team according to USCHO website, expressed his determination and perseverance for upcoming games and this season’s finish. “We have a lot more work to do,” Vander Esch said. “The job’s not done. I think these last five games are going to be big. I think as a whole we’ve had some ups and downs all throughout the year, but that happens with any season. Obviously we started off really well then we plateaued a little bit
Bears celebrate a successful game.
throughout the middle, but coming into the home stretch hopefully be rolling right into playoffs.” The team’s goal is to make it to the top four teams in Division 3 and have a home game advantage for the playoffs, a goal that is well within their reach. According to Bernard, who is currently coaching his seventh season at SUNY Potsdam, there are a few things they do to make this goal achievable. “We want to play to a certain standard,” Bernard said, “and be bested in the process whatever the result of that is, is where we are going to evaluate ourselves.” In order to move forward and be the best, the team needs to know where they are at right now. Coach Bernard pushes his athletes to play at their best, with rigorous practices and training exercises from Monday to Thursday,
if games are held on Friday, that last about three hours. Bernard and athletes said that practices consist of dynamic stretches, individual and team practice, yoga and watching scalp videos of their opponents. “My staff are the policeman [that] make sure that our guys are working there very hardest to be their individual best, and our collective best,” Bernard said. Practice is only one part of the game. A good team also needs to have a strategy, motivation, and understanding against what they are up against in order to win. Coach Bernard and the team work hard at practice to have the strategy, motivation, and understanding needed to win. “We talk about a term we use all the time — ‘system strong’— which basically means that we’re determined to have the right game
Women’s basketball to Hold Annual Play 4Kay Game Friday vs. Oswego Don Bronson
Contributing Writer
POTSDAM, N.Y.-The SUNY Potsdam women’s basketball team will once again don pink jerseys for its annual Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Play 4Kay game. This year the event will take place during this Friday’s Bears’ contest against Oswego State at 5:30 p.m. The Play 4Kay game, which many other college basketball teams will take part in across the
nation, will help raise money and awareness for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund from Feb. 12-22. The Fund, which partners with the V Foundation, is committed to raising money for scientific research in order to fight women’s cancers. The athletic department will sell a limited number of pink t-shirts for a $10 donation at the main gym entrance. All proceeds from the game’s ticket and t-shirts sales will go to the Kay Yow Fund. Both games will also feature a 50/50
raffle and fans can enter a halftime shootout with prizes for a $1 donation. The late Kay Yow, former NC State University head women’s basketball coach, served as the catalyst for Play 4Kay after her third recurrence with breast cancer in 2006. Yow was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and passed away on January 24, 2009. Overall, the Play 4Kay initiative has raised over $5.18 million to date.
Alexis Leigh Orlopp
plan against the right opponent, believing that that will lead towards a bigger probability of success,” Bernard said. Practice and a “system strong” game plan are a big part of the how well the team works together to achieve their collective goal, as well as having a home game playoff advantage. However, there is another aspect to the team that motivates them to push themselves and be their very best. Sophomore Joey Gilhooly explains the deeper connections and motivations the team has that is present both on and off the ice. “We are a family,” Gilhooly said. “We are brothers who would do anything for each other.” This is a testament to the bond the athletes have formed and one of the layers of motivation that push them to be there best.
11
Coach Bernard is motivated by his players, and this motivation is reflected in his coaching style within the symmetry of players and coaches. “There’s a fine line in coaching between insanity and determination,” Bernard said. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result, but sometimes you have to be determined to stay the course long enough to let things manifest. I wouldn’t say that we’re doing a lot of things entirely new or different than what we’ve done in the past, maybe what we’d like to think is we’re doing it better. That includes us as a staff all the way down to the players.” The Men’s Ice Hockey season is not over. There are still a few games left before the playoffs, and the next home game is Saturday Feb. 13 in Maxcy Hall at 7:00 p.m. Regardless of how the Men’s Ice Hockey team finishes up the year, SUNY Potsdam will remain proud of how well they have done this season, remember what they accomplished, and look forward to next season with great anticipation. Coach Bernard sees how hard the team works each and every week, at every game and knows how much potential each player has individually and collectively. “The big thing I would hope anybody recognizes in our guys is that they really play hard and try their best to represent Potsdam in the most positive way,” Bernard said. “It means something for them to wear the jerseys, they don’t play merely for their own ego, or their own selves they really do play hard for the college.”