Ice hockey’s impressive season

Garrett Riendeau

The Sacramento State men’s ice hockey club finished with a strong regular season record of 8-4.  This record earned them the number four seed in the playoffs and a matchup with the top seeded Polar Bears of Santa Rosa Junior College.  

Unfortunately the Hornets were unable to keep up with the Polar bears and fell 17-2.  The following day the Hornets played the Aggies of UC Davis in the third place game and lost 8-4.

Senior Matthew Quilay said the team had a rough time once they lost a few key player due to injuries.

“I felt we started off strong and had potential, but eventually struggled near the end, and in playoffs, due to a couple of main factors including the loss of our goalie and a few key forwards,” said Quilay.

Even with the two losses in the playoffs, the team had a much more successful season than the previous year when they went 2-13.  

Junior Henry Lofton, who has been playing for the team the last three seasons, has been there to witness the transformations that have taken place.

“Last year we only had a few skilled players who had lots of experience playing hockey while the rest of the team had just started playing just a few years ago,” Lofton said. “This year we had more experienced and skilled players who played well together, and the team chemistry in general was phenomenal.  We also had players in general who improved their game, which had a gray effect on the team.”

Lofton said even though the team felt they had a successful season, the lack of players prevented the team from performing at a higher level.  He said there were only 13 players on the team but the ideal is to have 20 skaters and two goalies. 

Defender Kyle Williams has been with the team for two seasons and felt that the lack of players was the team’s downfall this season as well. 

“This team lacked numbers,” Williams said. “In playoffs we only had eight players on the bench and that doesn’t help when you’re playing against teams that have full benches.” 

Next year’s team will be without a few players from this year’s squad, including Quilay, who will be graduating in May with a psychology degree.  Quilay said he enjoyed his experience playing on the team.

“The one thing I always enjoy regardless of how many wins we get is the camaraderie of the team,” Quilay said. “I feel I’ve made some strong connection with many of the guys. It’s (Sacramento State) a great place to play hockey at a level that requires a high level of commitment on the ice and in the classroom.”

Garrett Riendeau can be reached on Twitter @SH_Sports