Great Season!

Gearing Up for Next Season

Now that the season has come to the an end, the returning players have said goodbye to their senior reammates and have started their off season training for the 2009-2010 season. After finishing 7th overall in the nation this past season, next years team will hav some big shoes to fill. The team will be losing 10 guys to graduation this June, which will force the younger guys to step up as the leaders. Next season there will only be 1 or 2 returning players that will have a senior status, which means the majority of the team will be underclassmen. Through some heavy recruiting, the coaching staff has been able to find a few guys throughout the youth and junior hockey programs in the U.S.

Since DePaul hockey is a club sport at DePaul, the team and its members are on there own when it comes to keeping in shape for the upcomming season. Many guys stick to running and keeping up with a regular workout in the gym and others take a little more dedicated approach and partake in hockey camps. The team doesn't offically meet as a whole until the end of August where they partake in a week long conditioning camp in the Wisconsin Dells. The camp gives the players a chance to play with eachother and get there skating legs in shape for the following week at the tryout camp.

The summer off season is a big chance for guys to condition themselves and improve their skills that they will need to take DePaul hockey a step up and win a national championship. Even though the team will be losing quite a few weathered DePaul players, they will gain a lot of younger talent. As one can see from the Blackhawks success this year, a young team can sometimes be an asset to an organization and because they are are young team, can rise to the occasion to compete against the more experienced teams.

DePaul Hockey is on the rise and I don't be surprised if you see them take home the National title in 2009-2010.

ACHA Allstars

Last weekend the ACHA hosted the first annual all-star challenge. This year it took place in Pennsylvania and it consisted of 10 teams from the various leagues that make up the ACHA division 2 league. In this challenge Depaul was represented by five students who played for the East all-star team. The DePaul hockey players who represented was Billy Allen, Kevin Bolger, Taylor Paine, Tom Montes and Jason Glosniak.

The challenge started off on April 2nd with a practice for each team. This gave the teams a chance to get acquainted with one another and allowed them to work together in finding the right systems. This was a critical day to start off the long weekend. From friday until Sundays the teams played a total of five games and the team with record took the title of the best league in the ACHA. The East all-stars took a third place finish with 3 wins and 2 losses.

DePaul Hockey Falls Short of National Title. Ranks 7th in Nation

After a promising season, the DePaul hockey team fell just a few games short of making it to the National Championship game. To start off their run for the finals, Depaul faced the number one seed in the Northeast, Siena. The game started off at an even pace with a score of 2-1 at the end of the 1st. From there it went downhill for DePaul, with a score of 4-1 at the end of the second and a final score of 8-1.

With a hard loss to Siena and a poor way to start the national tournament, DePaul came back strong the next night defeating Weber State 5-0. For the next nights game Depaul faced Kennesaw State, which was a must win to even have a chance at the final four. From the drop of the puck both teams showed the heart to win, but slowly DePaul started to pull away and finish the game with a final score of 10-3.

With the round robin games out of the way for the DePaul team, all they could do is sit back and wait to see the results of the other round robin games. With a rocord of 2-1 it was a long shot for DePaul to make it to the final four. The fate of the DePaul hockey team now laid in the hands of the Weber State vs. Siena game. For DePaul to advance to the next round, Weber State had to beat Siena by 7 goals and at the same time Siena had to score 4 or more goals. So in other words, Weber State had to beat Siena 11-4 for DePaul to make it and with the high results of Siena's past games, it was not looking good.

Needless to say, DePaul did not make the cut and have entered the off season a few days earlier then planned.

Although DePaul could not bring the National title back to Chicago, the season wasn't a total loss. This Season was the best ever had by the DePaul hockey team. This was the first time in DePaul hockey history that they have advanced to nationals and to top it all off, won 2 out of 3 games and took 4th in the Central region and 7th overall in the nation.

With such a strong finish this season and a taste of the National tournament, there is no doubt that DePaul hockey will come out strong next season with high hopes of winning a National title.

DePaul Hockey Advances to Nationals

Chicago, IL 3/8/09-Last weekend the DePaul hockey team participated in the ACHA Central region, regional tournament. There are around 50 teams in the central region and out of those teams the top 10 teams make the regional playoffs. Since the number one and two seeds get an automatic bid to nationals, teams 3-10 play to see which other two teams will join the 12 other teams from the other three regions. In the first night of the tournament DePaul faced off against local rivals, Robert Morris College. This was the two teams 3rd meeting this year, with both teams having a win against the other. So not only was this game a must win to advance to the next round, but also was a chance for bragging rights. After a long tough game DePaul came out ahead with a 4-2 win over Robert Morris, giving them a birth into the second round against Minnesota school, Saint Thomas University.

Just like the game against Robert Morris, the second round game versus Saint Thomas promised to be a good one. Through the first two periods the game remained close, but DePaul remained ahead by one goal and took the lead to two by the end of the second. The score remained the same until late in the period when rookie forward, Vince Conenna scored a pair of goals to further seal the deal. DePaul went on to win it 6-2 and now advance to the National tournament, held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on March 17th through the 21st. Being the first time for many to make it to a National tournament and the first time for the DePaul organization, one can bet that the group of guys that make of the DePaul hockey team will not accept anything short of a National championship. It will take the skill and effort of the whole team to bring home a win, but most of all it will take heart.

Even though your DePaul hockey team will be on the road for their quest to win Nationals, you can still support them by watching the live webcast of the games. Each National tournament game is broadcast live over the web. Just visit www.livesportsvideo.com and click on "ACHA Mens Division II Hockey Championships 2009" and it will take you to a list of all the DePaul games.

Depaul Hockey Advances to Regionals

Chicago, IL 2/23/09-This year DePaul hockey has had a tremendous season. We are now in the 20th week of the season and Depaul has a current record of 27-8-0 with 2 of the losses being in overtime. This past weekend DePaul finished the regular season with 2 exciting wins against University of Illinois and now await their first regional game this Friday night against Robert Morris College. This will be the 3 time DePaul has faced Robert Morris this season who they recently beat and lost to at the end of January. This Friday will be their end of the year push towards nationals and hope to have the support of their fellow DePaul students. So, if you enjoy the sport of hockey or just love showing your school pride, come out and watch DePaul take the next step towards a national title!

The game is at 7:00 P.M. on Friday, February 27th. For further information and directions to the game visit the Depaul hockey website.