Displaying items by tag: hockey

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Skidmore’s Hockey team has concluded their progressive season and is already looking ahead to come back stronger next season.

Their program finished 6-17-2 last year and bounced back this year and finished with a regular season record of 13-9-3 with an overall national ranking of 24th in the country out of 90 teams. Th eir focus for the next year is recruiting players who will share the same goal the team has established.

"I took this job because coach Hutch said he wanted to win a national championship within five years,” said assistant coach Shane Talarico.” We just got done with year two and we're coming off  a recruiting class that finished sixth in the country and we believe this recruiting class coming is going to be even better."

The team has 13 wins and are striving to get over the 15-win mark, in order to gain the opportunity to be a national tournament team. With such a close goal mark, the coaches are paying a lot of attention to the incoming class of recruits, who will match the talent already on the team.

"We just had a kid, Austin Rook. He just finished up his freshman year. He was on the all-conference second team, and he made the all-rookie team as a freshman."

After the team took a loss to Babson College at the New England Hockey Conference, the team is taking this as a learning experience.

“Babson is a team that we've had trouble with, not only this past year but over a lot of years,” said Talarico. “We really gotta get over that hump. It's important for us to come into the rink every day to get better and jump those elite teams."

Attendance for their games is in the top 25, meaning the team is already getting a great amount of support from the community and the college, which does not go unnoticed. Giving back to the community that supports them is a top priority for the team and their Stable Club have helped them to do so. This year Skidmore’s Hockey team played at a few fundraising “Hockey Night” events where the proceeds went to the Wilton Food Pantry and the Do it For Daron Foundation, which aims to raise awareness, inspire conversation and transform youth mental health.

"We were very fortunate. We had Adirondack trust and the barrel house that joined our Stable club and we would like to continue that with them,” said Talarico. “We really thank those guys for giving us opportunities to put fundraisers together."

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Mack Ogden, new appointed captain of the Blue Streaks ice hockey team, is a junior center on a mission to inspire his team and play hard and well. He has been on the team since he was a high school freshman and does not currently play any other sports, although Ogden is considering running track in the spring.

He became involved with hockey at age three after his mom, Michelle, a former figure skater, thought hockey would be a good way to get Mack and his older brother Zac on the ice while they were young.

While injuries are fairly regular in the NHL, Ogden has only ever bruised a rib.

Ogden plays hockey year-round. He also plays on the Troy-Albany Titans, a traveling team, and the Lake Lizards, a tournament team based out of Northern, New York. Some of his Blue Streak teammates are also on these teams with him, as well.

The Titans are state-bound this spring where they are competing in the tier one state championships.

Ogden was appointed captain by Coach Torres, along with senior Quinn Leffler.

“Well, Coach was going to decide who demonstrated all the qualities of a captain, like courage and leadership and stuff like that. Everybody has been saying how much I deserve it, all of the players on the team always said they’d be disappointed if I didn’t make captain,” Ogden explained.

Even so, he was a little surprised when Torres made his decision.

Ogden credits his ability to go 100 percent every time and leads by example as his best leadership qualities.

“When things are going bad, I try to lift everyone’s spirits and get them refocused on the game... I always tell them to brush it off and that next shift is a whole new shift and start with your next time on the ice and go as hard as you can. If you make a mistake, just make up for it with more hard work,” he said.

The team trains in the summer at 518Athletes and also attend a camp.

Like every athlete, Ogden’s favorite part of the game is winning, and least favorite part is losing.

“It feels really good to win but it also brings our school and community together. Plus being around all of the guys that I’ve known my whole life is the best part. I just want to see everybody come together and work hard, so we can get our first winning record since I’ve been on the team. I’d say we still have a couple of team things to work on, but we’ll be ready when the time comes,” Ogden stated.

Last year, Ogden’s brother joined the team for his senior year.

“It was awesome. Zac and I had never played together before last year and there’s not really anything like it. I made the team my freshman year and he didn’t as a junior, so to see him work hard and finally reach his goal as a senior and making the team and watching him play was so awesome,” he said.

Although the team hasn’t hit the ice for a game yet, Ogden says they can hardly wait to.

“We’re really excited, no one can wait to get on the ice for our first game. We’ve been working so hard over the summer, we just can’t wait to bring it all together and show everybody what we can do,” he explained.

Academically speaking, Ogden has also been successful, saying he’s been “fairly average, around the 90s.”

He plans to study radiology in college where he also wants to continue playing ice hockey.

“One of my best friends since I was really little, his mom passed away from brain and breast cancer last year and if I could do anything to help other families that are in that same position then that is more than an accomplishment,” he said.

Ogden credits his mom and brother as his biggest support system. “They really push me to do the best I can,” he said.

The Blue Streaks’ first non-league game takes place on Friday, November 30, against John Jay at 8 p.m. at Ice Hutch in Mt. Vernon.

[Photo by Nate Smith]

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Ice hockey is known to be a sport where the crowd is just as riled up as the players. Whether it’s their team shooting the puck into the goal or a fight breaking out between the two teams on the ice, hockey is a fun sport to watch. Robert Hutchison, Skidmore College hockey coach, has started his third season with the Skidmore Thoroughbreds.

The Thoroughbreds have had their fair share of injuries this season, but nothing too severe. Pre-season began in September and on-ice training with the coaching staff started in October, per NCAA regulations.

The team is experiencing the typical challenges of a new season, such as team and personnel turnover, they remain focused on the goal at hand: “for us, the focus is consistently on maintaining a high compete level, being a great communicator, and being a great teammate regardless of role within the team on any given day,” Hutchison explained.

This seasons’ captains are Luke Alletzhauser, class of 2018, and Adam Moodie, class of 2019.

“Both [captains] bring different strengths to the table but are very well suited to lead this group. With such an inexperienced group, it will take some time for our key players to emerge, but Moodie is coming off a solid sophomore campaign as is fellow junior defenseman Corey Morgan and goaltender Brandon Kasel,” Hutchison said.

Hutchison describes the team as “young, but very talented,” he has the group working consistently to improv on a weekly basis.

“We’ve had our very good days and some moments of adversity in the first five weeks of the season. The New England Hockey Conference is an uber-competitive league with at least three to five of our eight teams consistently in the top 15 of the National Rankings. Consequently, every game is a highly anticipated contest and we’re always working to focus on the next opponent and not look beyond each individual matchup,” he explained.

While the team is matching up well against the top 15 opponents, the inexperience late in games “has been evident. This group has responded well to learning on the fly in the early going, but will only continue to improve with increased games under their belts,” Hutchison said.

“We’re fortunate to have a great group of young men who work hard, share a common goal, and genuinely care about being high quality student-athletes,” Hutchison said proudly.

The Skidmore Thoroughbreds will be playing Fredonia at 2 p.m. and at 5 p.m. against Hamilton vs. Canton on Nov. 25 in Saratoga Springs. All game information can be found at www.skidmoreathletics.com. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — One of the Spa City’s largest Broadway buildings will be undergoing major renovations this summer, bringing its upper floors to code and rebuilding new apartments. The owners of the Algonquin Building have hired Bonacio Construction to renovate the interior of the historic building—it was built in 1892 and designed by architect S. Gifford Slocum.