Men’s Ice Hockey heats up the rink

It was only the first tryout for ice hockey, but already things weren't looking good. "I talked to [Richie] Dart after the first tryout, and I thought we were in trouble," said head coach Ed Silva. "I had to talk him off of a cliff," Dart, a senior defense­man, said.

Despite the fact that things seemed bleak for the Hawks before the season even started, once the skates hit the ice dur­ing the real games, things start­ed going in RWU's favor. Now they stand at 10-0-1, with a real shot at winning a playoff game for the first time in the program's history.

Silva attributes much of the success to his three senior captains: Dart, Paul Bishop, and C.J. Younis. "We have a good core of seniors," he said. "In my opinion, it's the leader­ship of those three guys."

While the seniors have been a big part of the Hawks' run so far this year, an un­derclassman has also made his mark on the program. "Sean Wil­liamson is a freshman, and he's got 12 goals," said assistant coach Billy Manning. Both Williamson and Younis are on the same line, and have been two of the biggest contributors for the Hawks in 2011. Wil­liamson's aforementioned goal tally is impressive, and Younis has also played very well, de­spite a slow start to the year. "He was kind of doubting him­self, but since then, he's really picked it up," Silva said. "He was really hot for a good six or seven games."

The two coaches believe that the players have been the larg­est part of the success, but their players believe that the coaches have been an even bigger part. "Manning coming has been a huge help, too," Dart said. "He wasn't here last year, and he brings a lot. Last year, we had a lot of trouble with defense, just positioning and little turnovers that would cost us a game here or there."

There have been some big wins along the way towards the Hawks' success. An overtime win over Worcester Polytech­nic Institute (WPI) was a big confidence boost for the squad on the road. They relinquished the lead to WPI late in the fi­nal period, but were still able to pull out the victory in over­time. RWU was also able to defeat Rhode Island College for the first time ever this year. "It was a big deal for us," Dart said.

The success this year has not just been because of on-ice contributions, but rather, much of the work when the players aren't playing a game or even practicing. "The Student Senate has really helped us and stepped up dramatically," Silva said. "They have given us a large budget to play with. Without that, I don't think we'd have some of the kids that we have."

While they have yet to lose, the Hawks still aren't perfect. Manning be­lieves they still have some things to work on. "Some­times, we come out and it's just like, ‘We're the better team, and we can do what we want,'" he said. "We realize that we can't just show up and win a game. We have to show up and play the right way."

With help from the Senate, interest in the sport has also grown considerably around campus. "We had about 45 kids try out, and we had to cut 15 or 16 kids," Silva said." "We only cut two last year."

After a surprising start, expec­tations have predictably sky­rocketed for the Hawks' 2011 campaign. "I think anything less than a championship at the end of the year would be a fail­ure," Dart said.

Bishop also is starting to ex­pect bigger and better things from the team he captains. "We played every single team in two divisions, and beat every single one of them," he said. "It's time to move up."

Even Silva was surprised by the team's start. "Did I expect this? Absolutely not," he said. "We don't expect to lose now. We expect to win, and to con­tinue to get better."