Viking winter season comes to an end
Shelby Collins
Copy Editor
The Vikings are preparing to compete in their regional and national championships as the winter sports season comes to a close.
The men’s basketball team has a final record of 18-11. At the regional game, the Vikings lost to Onondaga by two points, with the final score at 97-95 (O). Prior to this loss, the team had high hopes for their chances at Nationals.
“One of the things we strive for is trying to make the regional tournaments,” said head coach Michael Long. “We would have loved to win twenty games, and we still have a shot at that at regionals,” he said.
Overall, the men’s basketball team have avoided things such as seasonal illnesses, which improved their performance entering the second half of the season, achieving 17 victories.
For the men’s basketball team, their most memorable moment was their game against SUNY Broome. The Vikings gave up their lead by three points with approximately two minutes left in the game and were able to foul Broome.
“We had to go the full length of the court and I drew up a play that we had never worked on, so that was a recipe for disaster. We executed almost the way it was drawn up,” said Long.
The Vikings and SUNY Broome went into overtime, ending with the Valley winning by 13 points.
Onondaga was a challenging opponent for the Vikings this season due to the Valley’s double loss against the team.
Other teams, such as Columbia-Greene, Fulton-Montgomery and Clinton, were easy wins for the Vikings, with the team winning by a wide margin.
These wins would not have been possible without the participation and dedication of the members of each team. Kevin Lenehan, Elijah Lott, Dave Reo, John and Brandon Palmer and Caleb Canty all made major contributions to the team’s effort.
“Jordan Holmes hasn’t gotten a lot of time but he’s always right there with the guys every day, he always works hard at practice, just without guys like that we don’t win,” said Long.
The men’s basketball team finished their season with a final record of 18-11, ranked 45th by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and will not be continuing on to Nationals this season.
The women’s basketball team has ended their season with a final record of 4-20 blaze it.
The team has faced a lot of challenges this season including struggles with illness and injury. The team was frequently left with only a handful of healthy players for a game. The majority of players are freshmen at Hudson Valley and still adjusting to the new team.
The team played their final game against Fulton-Montgomery on Feb. 22, losing 81-55. In total, they were able to win four games against Rockland, Cayuga, SUNY Broome and Columbia-Greene.
Shelby Dugan and Kali Szczepanski were two of the top players on the women’s basketball team this season. Szczepanski led the team in points per game, with Dugan in a close second.
The team will not be participating in Regionals this season. They are ranked 41st by the NJCAA.
Women’s basketball coach Rob Coleman was unavailable for comment.
At the regional tournament in Utica, N.Y. on Feb. 19, the men’s team was ranked fifth out of eight teams, and the women’s team was ranked fourth out of six teams participating.
Overall, the men’s team is ranked fifth out of six participating colleges in Region III of the NJCAA, and the women’s team is ranked second out of three participating colleges in Region III of NJCAA.
The bowling teams will be continuing on to Nationals, on March 3-4 at Erie Community College.
Coach Joe Prest was unavailable for comment.
The men’s ice hockey team have reached the final game of their concluding season at Hudson Valley.
“It’s bittersweet,” said head coach Ken Lancto. “We played a lot of good hockey so it was good in that sense.”.
The Vikings skated across many challenging opponents this season, including Erie, however, the Vikings were able to come out on top, winning one game and tying another.
“Beating Erie in Buffalo was memorable. They’re a team that hasn’t lost in the league in I believe three or four years, and we beat them three to one on the first night. We also tied them here. The team will remember those ones.
So will I,” said Lancto.
The ice hockey team was also able to consistently beat SUNY Broome, UAlbany Club, and Mohawk Valley throughout the season, leading up to Nationals. At Nationals, the Vikings won against Mohawk Valley 8-4.
Lancto contributes their success to the hard work, positive attitude and skill of the players, starting with the goalies.
“When you’re building a team you always want to look from the goalie out, we have a ton of second year guys and they have roles on the team,” said Lancto. “They work hard and do their jobs on and off the ice,” he said.
The ice hockey team also faced injury and illness throughout the season. Several players suffered from concussions, fractures or sprains and the flu. According to Lancto, the whole team was healthy and performing well going into Nationals.
Their win at Nationals wrapped up a successful season, and a successful end to the Vikings ice hockey team.
“It’s unfortunate that there are a lot of roster spots that will be no longer, that the opportunity won’t be there for the kids, so it’s sad in that way,” said Lancto. “A lot of our second-year guys are going on to play club, or somewhere else, and a lot of the first-year guys will find somewhere to play, I’m sure of that,” he said.
The team has concluded their season with a record of 13-12-2. They won one out of three games at Nationals, ranking them second in the NJCAA.