Indiana club ice hockey completes its exhausting yet exhilarating season, after grinding league and tournament play for the last seven months. The club ended up just short of where they originally planned — winning the national tournament — but it didn’t end without a stint of success.
The club now has another successful season finish as it placed 15th in the American Collegiate Hockey Association D2 Men’s Standings and won its regional Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League tournament on February 26. It also had a run in the national tournament, making it all the way to the semifinals before getting knocked out by University of Iowa in a close matchup March 20.
The club featured a variety of significant goal scorers and players who will be returning next season. Sophomore forwards Tommy MacDonald, Ithan DeLorenzo and Will Gerami will all be back with the club. Star goalie Samy Bilis is returning for another year with the program.
Head coach Andrew Weiss commented on the depth of ability featured on the team and the youth of the group as a whole.
“Obviously we’re going to miss our seniors. The seniors are the backbone of our team, but at the same time we’ve got a very deep crew,” Weiss said March 26. “I think we’re probably returning somewhere around 90% of our scoring from a season ago.”
The club’s leading goal scorers and assists leaders came from the underclassmen, and the staff is confident they’ll continue to get better. With another class coming in and the club only losing four of its current players on the roster, Indiana looks to replicate its success from this season.
“The core is there to continue to build on this,” Weiss said. “Just because we’re here this year doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed anything next year.”
Regarding the coaching staff, the offseason is just as important as the regular season as they have already started the recruiting process for their squad. Decisions are due by May 1 for high school students to commit to the school, so the next few weeks will be busy for the program.
The offseason will be quite busy, and it’ll come down to the staff and players to see who comes out of it on top, and who will be the prominent players on next year’s roster. The team will pick back up with official practices in late August and games will begin in early September.
