The Brandeis Club Hockey Team is currently 1-1 in the New England Senior Hockey League postseason, as they seek to repeat as Kings Division champions after winning the title last year. The club experienced a difficult regular season this year that was marred by a spinal injury to starting goalie Mike Cohen (GRAD), a record that hovered near .500 most of the season, and several occasions of players not always seeing eye to eye. Despite their adversity, however, the Judges are on their way to defending their division title even though they are only a loss away from being eliminated from the playoffs.
The Judges finished with a 10-11-3 record during the regular season, which resulted in a fourth place finish out of seven teams in the C2 Level, Kings Division of the NESHL. Defenseman David Feingold 08 told The Hoot that, despite the sub-.500 record, the team played pretty well during the regular season. We had times where we lost games that we shouldve won, but we definitely have a lot of individual talent, among the most of any team I have ever played on.
The club beat the Rink Rats in their first playoff game last week by a 5-3 score. Their most recent playoff game under the double-elimination format was, as of press time, a 2-1 loss to the LPC Vipers. The Vipers were the best team in the Judges division during the regular season with a 14-6-2 record, yet only narrowly defeated Brandeis thanks to an impressive showing by the Vipers goalie.
With their backs against the wall and a loss away from being eliminated from the playoffs, the Judges still feel that they have a chance to repeat as division champions. Feingold believes that if the team is going to have any chance at repeating, it needs to perform completely as a team. The biggest strength in last years team was the chemistry and the absolute camaraderie among all of the players. Thats going to be the key to repeating this year.
Even after the postseason, win or lose, the team is hopeful for many changes for next season. As a club hockey team, it struggles to find sufficient ice time for structured practices and does not currently have sufficient funds to play in a college club league that would allow checking during games. Feingold clarified that there are so many clubs contending for a set sum of money. Hopefully the athletic department will take on some of the costs for club sports teams. The only other means of [the hockey team] making money would be through donations to the teamessentially outside funding.
As far as the teams future on the ice is concerned, with a new regime of captains coming in, a group of talented current freshmen continuing to develop, and a prospective group of talented freshmen coming next year, the team should have a very legitimate opportunity to contend for the Kings Division title in the 2006-2007 season.
