Ice Hockey Preparing for Nationals

The Hudson Valley men’s hockey team is headed to nationals after finishing the regular season with a record of 12-6.

“I feel that the season has been very productive. We have been winning and all working hard and it’s been a good collective effort,” said Freshman Defensemen Shayne Mensing.

“I feel pretty good. We have two weeks off to get healthy and prepare for nationals,” said Head Coach Matt Alvey.

“We were pretty strong the whole season, some down games, but we’ve worked hard the past couple weeks and we are looking forward to nationals,” said Sophomore Forward John Garro.

The Vikings are coming off of a tough season last year, finishing 5-15.

“A lot of guys are hungry. Last year, the freshmen at the time were kind of upset the way the season went. We had high expectations last year with a great freshman class but we fell victim to some academic issues, and this year their goal was to make it to nationals, which we have,” said Alvey.

The Vikings head into nationals as the number three seed and will be facing Williston State College from Minnesota.

“The seeding benefits us a little bit, it’s letting us play against a new team that we haven’t played against yet,” Alvey said. “Hopefully we can go in there, battle hard, and win a hockey game.”

“We have a tough task at hand. We are going to be playing a team from Minnesota [that] is a very good hockey team and [has] lots of depth,” said Alvey.

Mike Fay is one of the Vikings’ Goalies and has an open mind about not knowing about Williston State. “I don’t know anything about them, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because you’re going in there with an open mind, and you don’t know what to expect. Everyone’s going to have the mentality that they’re very good and we have to treat them like that,” said Fay.

Alvey looks at this as a whole new season.

“We are preparing a little different. I considered this as the second part of the season,” Alvey said. “It’s a little bit different, almost like playoff hockey. We’re back at ground zero and we started this past week with getting back into conditioning as best we can, and we’re putting together a game plan.”

“We are playing every practice with high intensity, playing it as if it was a game. We need to keep this fire and intensity because the season is going to be over in a week and a half and we’re going to be wishing it was here, so we need to go out with a bang and give it everything that we’ve got,” said Fay.

The Vikings’ chemistry is very important as they head into nationals. “The chemistry on the ice is a lot better now than the beginning of the season. In the beginning, we had one solid line and now we have three solid lines,” said Garro.

Along with the chemistry comes the play of the defense. “Defense is the biggest part of the game,” said Mensing. “As a defenseman, you’re protecting your zone and the net. You have to be strong, because it’s not always the goalie’s fault.”

The team has had success throughout the whole season, and leading into nationals, they are working extra hard to get the win.

“For our team to have success against any team that we play, we always have to have a great work ethic, and adhere to the systems that we are trying to do as a team,” Alvey said. “We’re trying to get on the same page, coming to practice, and come in with a great work ethic.”

They will start the tournament on Feb. 23, when they face Williston State College in Monroe.