Spring Break
Roller hockey club ranked10th
Shawn Gauby
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Sports
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The roller hockey club knows how to play. The team has been nationally ranked in Division II play for weeks, and they go into this weekend's regional championship with a chance to earn a spot in the NCRHA National Tournament. Optimism is running high throughout the organization.
"Our goal for this year was to make nationals," head coach Bob Raynor said. "We got really close last year, and we felt we deserved better than we got. In the end, our play didn't prove that. This year, we are much improved, a much more consistent team."
The team was consistent enough to be ranked all season by the Independent Rankings Committee, and is currently No. 10. There is stability in the talent level throughout the club, as the B team is ranked No. 12 in the nation in the B rankings, and they have been ranked as high as fourth.
Both teams will be playing this weekend in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association Regional Championships which are to be held at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, Pa. They will play the games March 2-3 in a round-robin format to determine who gets to go to the national championship in Saint Louis. First for the Division II team is the defending national champions, Neumann College.
"We lost against the national champs in regionals [last year]," Raynor said. "We have a lot of good veteran leadership this year. We fully expect to compete well and possibly win regionals."
Winning would be a tall order against the Neumann Knights. They are 17-0-1 this season and riding a 33-game unbeaten streak, the longest in the history of the ECRHA. They have held the No. 1 ranking in the country for most of the season. But the Dragons have the best chance of any team in the regional championships to dethrone the Knights.
The senior-laden Drexel squad boasts three players who play professionally. Justin Brennan, Van Nguyen and Bill Sherwood all play for the Marple Gladiators of the Professional Inline Hockey Association.
"Our goal for this year was to make nationals," head coach Bob Raynor said. "We got really close last year, and we felt we deserved better than we got. In the end, our play didn't prove that. This year, we are much improved, a much more consistent team."
The team was consistent enough to be ranked all season by the Independent Rankings Committee, and is currently No. 10. There is stability in the talent level throughout the club, as the B team is ranked No. 12 in the nation in the B rankings, and they have been ranked as high as fourth.
Both teams will be playing this weekend in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association Regional Championships which are to be held at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, Pa. They will play the games March 2-3 in a round-robin format to determine who gets to go to the national championship in Saint Louis. First for the Division II team is the defending national champions, Neumann College.
"We lost against the national champs in regionals [last year]," Raynor said. "We have a lot of good veteran leadership this year. We fully expect to compete well and possibly win regionals."
Winning would be a tall order against the Neumann Knights. They are 17-0-1 this season and riding a 33-game unbeaten streak, the longest in the history of the ECRHA. They have held the No. 1 ranking in the country for most of the season. But the Dragons have the best chance of any team in the regional championships to dethrone the Knights.
The senior-laden Drexel squad boasts three players who play professionally. Justin Brennan, Van Nguyen and Bill Sherwood all play for the Marple Gladiators of the Professional Inline Hockey Association.
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Bill Sherwood
posted 3/02/07 @ 1:42 PM EST
It is so nice to finally have some recognition in the school paper. It comes at no better a time, as this year is our best chance in my long college career to advance out of the playoffs. (Continued…)
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