PSU Men’s Ice Hockey Ends Solid Season

Milton, MA – The PSU men’s ice hockey team may have lost in the semi finals to the number one seeded Curry College on Wednesday, March 2 at Max Ulin Rink with a final of 8 – 2. However that does not take anything away from how spectacular of a season the ice Panthers really had. A 13-10-2 final record on the season and a 9-5-1 ECAC Northeast record put PSU in fourth place, and gave them their first playoff birth in three years. The final record on the season also represents the best record for PSU men’s ice hockey under coach Brett Tryder, and the best overall since the 1993-94 season, in which PSU finished at 17-8-0. The last time Plymouth found themselves up against Curry was back on Feb 1, and the Panthers were struggling to get back to .500 play with a 6-8-2 record. The result after that loss – only one of the hottest hockey teams in the ECAC Northeast Conference, with winning seven of their last eight games and winners of their last five games. Two of the games during that span were thrilling 3-2 overtime victories – the first being against Suffolk, and the second against Western New England on Western’s own ice. Plymouth found themselves with some outstanding achievements on an individual basis as well. First to mention is Plymouth’s freshman goalie Karl Helgesson, known to teammates and fans as “Sunshine.” Over the course of the season he earned ECAC Northeast Goalie of the Week honors five different times, as well as one Rookie of the Week award. His tremendous numbers included a 2.89 goals against average and a .904 save percentage, ranking him fourth in both of those categories among the 24 goalies in the Northeast… and he’s only a freshman. No pun intended but the Panthers expect a bright future from their star goalie, and hope for several more productive years in net from him. Other notable individuals for PSU include junior Dennis Kane, who led the team in points with 30 on the season with 11 goals and 19 assists tallied, and Chris “Big Cat” Cadieux (sophomore), lead the team in goals with 12 on the season. PSU has a potential solid core of players returning for next season, as the team just two seniors, but those seniors will be missed as they lose Michal Bodnar, who had a solid year and played some key roles down the final stretch, and Max Wernert, who just earned ECAC Northeast Ice Hockey Player of the Week ending Feb 27. Wernert received this honor due to his three points and dominant defense in aiding the allowance of just three goals in two crucial games for Plymouth. Plymouth sophomore Goose LaCroix had a few comments in reflection of this spectacular season: “I never expected to have a season like this one and be a part of such a great team. Talking to the guys about season goals early in the year we had mentioned fourth place, which I honestly thought was a long shot. However as the season progressed I knew we had it in range.”Goose continued by adding: “Every conference game we just tried to get two points closer to our goal and late in the season Max and Bodnar really led the way. And “Sunshine” had our backs, which allowed us to focus on scoring and winning the must win games.” This team really lived up to the saying of “taking things one game at a time.” With the obvious strong team chemistry, hard work, and fun, you can expect this team to be right back in the mix next year. It was by far a thrilling and memorable season for both players and fans.