Hockey teams head to NCAA

For women's hockey player Sarah Scardino, preparing for the game is more of a mental battle than a physical one.

"Everyone on the team has their own little ritual they do before they step out onto the ice," she said.

Scardino turns on her favorite music, and visualizes the plays the team will be using for the game. Team readiness is the key to staying sharp and winning games, she said.

"It's good to stay loose, but when the time comes to play, you've got to be focused and ready for anything."

The men's and women's hockey teams hosted the annual Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey tournament last weekend.

The men won their second straight ECAC East Tournament championship by scoring a game-winning goal 17:53 into the first overtime to give the Cadets a 3-2 win over Babson. The men had shut out Southern Maine in the semifinals the night before.

The women lost their final match, 4-2, to Manhattanville College, after beating Southern Maine 7-0 in the semifinals. But the women are still heading to the NCAAs, having been chosen as an at-large team.

Preparations aimed at hosting the tournament began in earnest once the men's and women's hockey teams cemented their places in the conference rankings.

"Since we clinched the first seed for the women's league, the quarterfinal game (was) hosted here, and now we have the opportunity to host the rest of the tournament," Mariano said.

Ensuring the tournament runs smoothly was a top priority for Mariano and the other staff working in the athletics department.

"There's a lot of working parts here at the arena, trying to get everything set up and ready," Mariano said. "There's a lot that goes into it, and it takes a lot of people to make this thing run well."

A positive playing environment is one of the things Mariano and the other rink managers wanted to create for this tournament.

"There's a lot of hockey going on (over the) weekend," Mariano said. "We make sure that the teams we're hosting can get into their locker rooms and things like that."

Six teams from around New England, comprising the top teams from the ECAC for both the men and women's divisions, compete for the chance to play in the championship round of the tournament.

"We usually meet with the teams we're hosting here to go over locker-room assignments, what jerseys they're wearing, and little things like overtime procedures and security handling," Mariano said.

Teams "love coming to our facilities because it's a beautiful arena, the locker rooms are nice, and the tournaments are usually run very well," Mariano said.

The upgrades to Kreitzberg Arena and Andrews Hall allow the rink staff and athletics coordinators to provide quality services and support to visiting teams, according to Mariano.

"The renovations have really opened up the facility, and have made it more accessible to the fans and visitors," Mariano said.

The concessions stands and added space mean "there's more room for people to move about between periods, or even before the game," according to Mariano.

Keeping the fans happy and cheering is another issue the event coordinators have to be aware of, Mariano said.

They want to create "a very inviting atmosphere for the community to come into,"

Mariano said. "It's comfortable; you can come in and take your coat off and you're not sitting on a bench freezing out there."

Playing the tournament at Kreitzberg has been a morale boost, according to Mark Bolding, head coach of the women's hockey team.

"If we're playing hockey here at Kreitzberg, we're more likely to get a lot more support from the community and from the student body, than if we went to another rink somewhere else," Bolding said.

"(The team) will like the confidence boost," Bolding said. "They're comfortable in Kreitzberg Arena, and they're comfortable at Norwich."

The teams are hoping for a "good crowd to come out" and "support (the teams) so we can dominate and move on to the next round," Bolding said.

This year is the first time Norwich has hosted the women's tournament; it is the 11th year for the men.

"We've never had the opportunity to host the ECAC tournament, and it's a change for us, a good change," Bolding said.

According to 23-year-old Scardino, a senior communications major from Stoughton Mass., having the chance to play with "home ice advantage boosts the morale of the team a lot," and "everyone is pretty excited, but there's a little nervousness in there too," Scardino said.

Said Bolding, "We finished these last few weekends well, and our expectations are to come out playing well here on home ice."

Head coach of the men's hockey team and assistant director of athletics Michael McShane said, "We want to make sure the players are healthy, and we're running the players hard in practice."

The teams are "keeping the practicing up, but not burning (the players) out, especially this time in the year," McShane said.

"For any athlete in most sports, the individual preparation is very important, because they know what they need to do to be ready," Bolding said.

Sometimes the coaches may run a short practice, or even give their players the day off; but most players "want to be down on the ice skating, even if it's just for a warm up," according to Bolding.

Junior communications major Emmond Bell, 23, of Ottawa, Ontario, said "Getting down to the rink, even if it's just for a light practice, is better than no practice."

"We've all got to stay fit (and ready), so having tough practices is what the team does before a tournament like this," Bell said.

Both teams worked on refining the basic strategies and tactics that have resulted in the teams' successes this season, according to McShane.

"We fine tune things every week, working on the little things, but everybody has to keep their head in the game, mentally and physically," Scardino said.

With regards to the men's hockey team, "our defense and our goaltending have really gotten strong," McShane said. "We're getting goals from guys now that we knew could get us those points."

For the women's hockey team, "We're going over a lot more plays, a lot more systems," and "we're fine tuning everything we've learned from playing this season," Scardino said.

"Coach (Bolding) always tells us that the key to winning the game is scoring the first goal, and so far that's worked pretty well for us," according to Scardino.

"Scouting the other teams, watching game film," and keeping the attitudes and outlooks of the players on positive things are determining facets of "good hockey", according to Bolding.

"It's (been a long) year for hockey," McShane said. "To keep (the players) on that fine edge is difficult, and we've had a few slips during the season."

Mentally, the players on the team rely on their own methods of preparing for the upcoming tournament.

"Part of the mental aspect is preparing them in the practices, and that's what they're focusing on, staying in the present," McShane said.

According to McShane, "that's all you have control over (because) you don't have control over what the other teams are doing; you can only work on the things you need to work on as a team."

"You got out there, you practice hard, and you make sure you don't let the games get to you too much," Bell said.

Given last year's success, players are optimistic about this year.

"The expectations are very high coming off of the championship win from last year," McShane said. "The players know that they've got to keep their heads on right and play every game to the best of their abilities."

Most of all, the players, coaches, and fans are "definitely excited to head back into the ECAC tournament and post-season play and we want them to take it to the next level," Bolding said.

As a graduating senior, Scardino said, "To be where we are now and look back, it's amazing to see how far we've come, to see how our team has developed over the last few years."

"For us seniors, we've dedicated a lot, and it's become like a family," Scardino said. "We hope that all of our work and passion that we dedicated this year helps us prevail and we come out on top."