The 2014-2015 season has been one to remember for the West Chester Men’s Ice Hockey Team. The team had what seemed to be a rough patch early on in the season, but they have not been able to shake it off. They are currently 16 games into the season, sitting in last place with only two wins. The only team to have been beaten by West Chester is Rutgers University. The teams have faced off three times total, and the Rams have taken away a win on two of them. This proves that the Golden Rams have the potenitla to be a winning team, they just really seem to be missing the depth to keep themselves in the games. Justin Finnerty is leading the team with 21 points, followed by Michael Dorfschneider with 16 and James Davis with 15. Following that line is a dwindling trail of scorers. Looking at the successful teams in the National Hockey League, they all have tremendous depth. They count on their 4th liners to be goal scorers. They are a threat at all times. The Rams do not have that situation, they appear to have more of a top-line style. Throw the best forwards all out at one, have them produce great numbers and than use everyone else and a strong defense. Their objective is to simply prevent goals when the top line is resting. West Chester has its superstars in Finnerty, Dorfschneider, and Davis. The lack of depth makes both plans nearly impossible to execute. [pullquote align=”right”]They count on their 4th liners to be goal scorers. They are a threat at all times.[/pullquote]
The team saw success on Jan. 25 against University of Delaware. They would take a 4-5 shoot-out win against the Blue Hens. The first two periods would be all about the Rams. John Mango and Ryan Evans would score the only two goals of the first. They scored fast, with a goal in 1:24 into the game. Ryan Evans would carry his late first period success over into the second period with power play goal to start it strong. Justin Finnerty, the team goal leader, would also score one in the second period. Delaware would score four goals to tie up the game and send it into overtime. The overtime period would be uneventful, with nothing more than a Delaware penalty. The penalty shoot-out leaned in favor of West Chester. Michael Dorfschneider and Ryan Evans would be the two that scored in the shootout to get the win. Michael Rice was the goalie between the pipes through out the game and would shut down both of the Blue Hens shooters in the Shoot out. The win would take them to a record of three and 14 and get them to six points. They are still in last in the division, just one point behind Rutgers, who has seven points.
West Chester will be looking to take this momentum into the rest of the season. They will need to play better than they have in the last game against Delaware if they want to turn the rest of the season into a positive one. The next game and the last game of the season will both be at home. I would expect to see a lot more minutes from the Second and third liners over the next 5 games. Getting them minutes and seeing what they can do seems like a good idea at this point in the season. The games will be a good representation of the potential of the seasons to come, if they play them right. As the season comes to a close, the Golden Rams will look to pull out a few more wins, starting with Lebanon Valley College this week.
Bryce Livers is a second-year student majoring in communications. He can be reached at BL810873@wcupa.edu