Rams hockey looks to push for a league win

To put his expectation of the upcoming season in one word, Rams Hockey Right Winger Connor Parent wants to be a statement team.

“I’m sick of being the underdog, I want to be a team that everyone knows coming to play Suffolk,” said Parent in an interview with The Suffolk Journal.

The Rams finished last season with a 13-10-2 record, the team dropped to fourth seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast Hockey League after holding their first seed more than halfway into the season, shortly after Suffolk University’s winter break. Their season ended sooner than they wanted it to be with their first round playoff elimination to Wentworth Institute of Technology in the ECAC Northeast Tournament on Feb. 28.

Parent said that he wish the team could take less or more of a break heading into the second half of their season after winter break, where the team finished February with a 1-5 record. Finishing the last month of the season with a losing record every February has been an issue for the program for the past several seasons. The 22-year-old added that winter break was tough for not only his team, but for the other teams throughout the league, which he thinks is inexcusable. To remain consistent, he said that the team has to stay in the gym, stay focus and stay together.

“I wish we played with the same tenacity and hunger as we would in the beginning of the season coming into this season,” said Parent, an undeclared business major. “That hunger, we should carry it on.”

Sophomore Center Tommy Bishop thinks the team has a “real good shot” of winning the league this season. To make “a good push,” the 22-year-old said that the team has the responsibility of putting in work to get the job done, which is winning games.

“We want to make sure we keep [winning games] going throughout the whole year, we don’t really want to taper off,” said Bishop in an interview with The Journal. “We really want to make a good push, like [Parent] said. We’re coming in lot stronger, but with that, we’re not going to be sneaking up a lot of teams this year like we did last year.”

While the Rams may have started off some games trailing their opponents, senior forward Brett Lawson said they always came back. As a team, the 23-year-old winger wants to make sure the Rams go out and play all three periods every game.

“A lot of the games we lost last year, we always had a period where we kind of took it off, so we want to focus on playing a full game and winning those little battles to make up the whole game,” said Lawson in an interview with The Journal. “And that more so the idea that if we win a majority of those little battles then we’ll keep winning the overall game.”

As a senior, who will be heading into his fourth and final year with the team, Lawson, an accounting major and finance minor, said he would like to gain a little more of consistency in his game himself and for his team to treat every single game individually to come out with a “W.”

“I want to be the first person to the puck every single time I’m out there on the ice,” said Lawson. “And that lead by example mentality, so I might not be the most talkative kid, but I want to make sure that I am working the hardest.”

Despite the slip in the league and playoff loss, Current Head Hockey Coach Chris Glionna, who is heading into his 13th season coaching the team, re-established a winning culture to the program under his leadership. Glionna said in an interview with The Journal on April 24 that he owes his success to “one of the best staffs in college hockey”– Assistant Hockey Coaches John Burgess, Greg Fowke and Pat Welch. Glionna earned his 100th career win, the winningest coach in program history, in a 1-0 shut out win over Becker College on Feb. 28.

The program’s coaching staff did not respond to communication with The Journal regarding this article as of late Wednesday night.

With a new season to be underway on Saturday, Bishop wants to hit the headers. The finance major speaks on the behalf of his team that they want to make sure they continue carrying the winning mentality this year.

“Last year, we ended the season not the way we wanted to, we have a really strong team this year and we don’t want to have that sour taste on our mouths at the end of the season,” said Bishop. “We’re all excited to keep that mentality going forward to both improve our record, but do it for our coaches, our school and ourselves. Everything’s about winning.”

Bishop added that they want to continue to carry the comradery the graduated senior class created for the program moving forward and build off of what the alum started.

“We’re all a big part of that, we want to make sure that we carry that tenacity into this season,” said Bishop.

Besides making a bigger push to win the league, by the end of the season, Bishop wants to have a top six role on the team. Bishop and Parent want to continue being role players their coaches can rely on.

“I really want to be having a lot of ice time, taking up a lot of minutes,” said Bishop. “I want to be effective, put up a lot of points for the team both me and my line, whoever my linemates may be this year.”

The Rams will open their season at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass. on Oct. 29 at 6:35 p.m.