Florida Road Trip and Start of 2008/2009 Season

So, no one has posted since the Alumni game, but a lot has happened since then. We have played our first 5 games, and have already been handed our first loss at the hands of a very fast and hard-working FGCU's D3 squad. As Coach Durrigan said, it is good that this happened early in the season so we can work out the kinks now rather than in February. Two years ago, we were undefeated late in the season going into a game with an MTSU team that had a losing record, and got upset, which really rattled our confidence. It is good to establish early on that we have to keep on improving as the year goes on to have a shot at winning it all in March.

The first big weekend was great for the team in a few respects:

First, we got to bond off the ice, which is always a very important step each year, and I think we made some strides toward becoming a more unified group. I had fun will all the rookies, and I know it will be the same for those who didn't make this trip during future road trips and off-ice team events.

Second, the wheels started turning on the ice. The first two games versus Vanderbilt and Florida were really shaky, with very little coordination amongst the lines. The passing was sub-par, there was very little cycling, and we were not trying to win battles to the puck. Giving up 5 to Florida must have woken us up, because all 4 lines and all the D pairings were rolling versus South Florida. Every line showed improvement over the course of the 5 games we have played so far. It was evident toward the end of the FGCU game, however, that off-ice conditioning has to improve, or we are going to continue losing close games in the 3rd period.

Finally, we found out that we still have work to do with respect to line rotations. There are a few specifics that we will be working out over the course of the next few weeks as players get healthy and we get more games in, but this is the sort of thing that works itself out as we get into a groove.

It really didn't feel like hockey season until we had a big roadtrip, so now it officially feels like the season has started. We are all pumped for this weekend and hope to start off our home schedule with a big win versus MTSU, and I don't think there is a player on the team who isn't motivated to take one from our biggest rivals, Kennesaw State, who took 2 from us last season.

Please come support us in our first home game of 2008/2009, Friday night (October 17^th) when we take on the MTSU Blue Raiders at 10:15pm at the Knoxville Coliseum!

Tommy