It arrives every year as the leaves change colors and the weather turns cold. Along with pumpkins, turkeys, and yard work, autumn ushers in a new season of ice hockey.
And this year, the Delaware ice hockey team comes with a familiar mission.
Following a stellar 2001-2002 campaign in which the Hens finished 28-6-1 and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country, head coach Josh Brandwene said Delaware is primed to make a run for an American Collegiate Hockey Association Championship.
Barbour sported a 2.21 goals-against average and earned Second-Team All-American honors while Rosenberg posted an 11-3-1 record and led the team with a 92.1 save percentage.
Barbour said a healthy competition between the two netminders has yielded positive results.
“It makes it a lot more fun,” he said. “It keeps you on your toes and makes every practice a competition. It makes us better because we’re trying to outplay one another.
“The guys have only one thing in mind, and that’s putting a ring on their finger and winning a national championship,” he said. “They’re really focused right now.”
Brandwene said the Hens’ roster, which boasts 14 seniors, will also feature promising yet untested freshmen forwards like Howard Kosel and Phil McKeon.
“We have a small, but very strong, recruiting class who I think will step in nicely for the voids that have been left,” he said. “We have some young forwards who have surprised some people and made an impact.”
After staking a highly successful season, the Hens are wary to avoid a letdown.
“We feel we already had that letdown at Nationals last year,” Delaware senior center Dan Howard said. “We’ve worked really hard since we’ve been here, and everyone knows what we have to do in order to win.”
“We’ve got a good group of guys coming back and we know where we made mistakes last year,” added senior center Chris Ferazzoli. “We have kept on each other’s cases in a positive way.”
The Hens are set to open their season against West Chester tonight at 7 p.m. in the Fred Rust Arena. The game marks the beginning of what many on the team believe is their best shot at a national title.
From The Review
October 11,2002
by Matt Amis
https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/14751/udr_129_11.pdf
