Eli men's icers look to skate to ECAC success

The Bulldogs aim for Top 10 ECAC finish

Despite graduating eight seniors who accounted for half of last year's scoring output, including first team All-Ivy center John Emmons, SY '96, and second team All-Ivy defenseman Dan Brierley, JE '96, the Blue remain focused and optimistic about the prospects of making the playoffs this year. The players have made a commitment to being in the best possible physical condition, according to head coach Tim Taylor, who hopes that this conditioning, in addition to the team's strong mental focus, will translate into success. "Our expectations, although realistic, are high," Taylor said.

Forward Brad Dunlap, SM '98, echoed Taylor's expectations. "We should have a decent year," he said, mentioning the large sizes of the freshman and sophomore classes as strengths the team hopes to build on. "We're more of a blue-collar team. Everyone's going to have to pull their own weight," he added.

The loss of Emmons and Jeff Sorem, CC '96, will be a big blow to the Blue's offense, which returns seven letterwinners. Matt Cumming, JE '98, will be counted on to take a leadership role as the highest returning goal-scorer (eight goals, six assists, 14 points last season), along with Geoff Kufta, CC '98 (4-9-13).

Other key returning players include Keith McCullough, BR '99, who played 28 games as a freshman last season; Dunlap, who notched four goals before breaking his hand last season; and captain Josh Rabjohns, MC '97. In addition, the Elis will look to receive added size and strength from Kris Merkler, SY '98, who was injured for most of last season, and extra scoring from freshman Jeff Hamilton, SM '00, who "comes in with strong offensive credentials," according to Taylor. John Chyz, BR '99, will provide some added potential offensively for the Bulldogs.

On defense, the Eli squad will be led by Ray Giroux, BK '98, whose 20 points last season tops all returning players, and Sani Silvennoinen, ES '97, who provided an offensive threat from the blue line last season before going down with an injury midway through. Daryl Jones, PC '98, and Jeff Glew, BR '98, with 33 and 27 games of varsity experience under their belts, respectively, will be looked upon to solidify the defense.

In goal, the Bulldogs will return two experienced netminders for the first time in four years. Dan Choquette, BR '97, and Alex Westlund, SM '99, split time between the pipes last season, with Westlund starting one more game than Choquette. Taylor has said he will begin this season playing "the hot goaltender," as he did for most of last season, which likely will result in split time again, until one of the goalies establishes himself as the number one. Freshman Trevor Hanger, SY '00, may compete for some time as well.

If last weekend's performance against the Polish National Team is any indication, the team may be living up to its expectations. Before a crowd of 2,554 at Ingalls Rink last Sat., Nov. 2, the Elis won 8-1 in their only exhibition match of the preseason. Kufta and Jeff Brow, TC '00, netted two goals each, and Cumming, Hamilton, and Dan Peraza, SM '98, all had a goal and an assist, while Choquette and Westlund shared the goaltending duties.

"That's a difficult game to evaluate us by, because it was an exhibition game against an opponent out of the league," Taylor said of the win over Poland, adding that he was nonetheless pleased with the ability the team demonstrated to score goals.

Asked if he had expected the team to beat Poland as handily as they did, Rabjohns responded, "We're expecting to win every game, but we're pleased that we took our game to them for 60 minutes."

In order to reach their goal of making the playoffs for the first time in four years and avoid the ECAC cellar (where the team was predicted to finish by the coaches' poll) the Bulldogs must continue to receive scoring help from the younger players, and the senior class must step up its meager offensive production of just six goals collectively last year. In addition, Taylor said he will continue to emphasize the game's defensive aspects. "We must become a better defensive team than we've been in the past," Taylor said of the team's most critical area for improvement.

One of the biggest tests of the season will come in the first home games of the season next weekend as the Blue are set to host both archrival Harvard, which boasts one of the strongest freshman classes in the nation this year, and Brown. Last season the Eli squad lost to Harvard at Cambridge in November, but was able to avenge its loss against the Cantabs and outgoing goaltender Tripp Tracy with a 6-5 victory at Ingalls Rink in February.

"We've got a lot of guys who are aware of [their roles] and can fill certain roles on the team. Guys know what their roles have to be for us to win," Rabjohns said.