PSU men's hockey looking up with young players

The PSU Men's Hockey team will kick start their season on Friday, November 6 against Suffolk University in the Becker Tournament being played in Marlboro, Massachusetts at 3:30 p.m.

PSU will have a lot of young faces on their roster this season seeing how nearly half of their roster will be filled with first-year students. 13 of the 29 players on PSU's roster will be first-year students this season.

PSU will be looking to build upon their overall record of 11-12-2 from last season and will look to crack the .500 in the MASCAC. The MASCAC (Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference) is a new conference that PSU has joined along with the likes of Fitchburg State, Salem State, Framingham State, UMass Dartmouth, Westfield State and Worcester State.

When asked what he is hoping for this season, PSU head coach Brett Tryder stated "We will have a lot of new faces on this year's team. We have, what we think, will be a very competitive team and we will be looking to contend for a league title," said Tryder, "The challenge that we will have is getting off to a good start. With a roster half filled with freshman, it will be important to get everyone on the same page as quickly as possible. We are playing in a new conference called the MASCAC and it is filled with teams with rich history. Playing Salem State, UMass Dartmouth and Fitchburg State three times each will be a challenge." Looking at the roster, senior Chris Chambers and junior Kyle Tobin are the team's two captains while sophomore Chris Zaremba will be an assistant captain. PSU will have only two seniors on their roster, while having seven juniors.

When Brett Tryder was asked what he thought were some of the keys to success this season, he stated "Team camaraderie is be the key to any successful season. If the guys are enjoying themselves and there is healthy competition among them, you can achieve great things."

Tryder will look to some of his older guys on the team to help carry the load if PSU expects to compete for a conference title this season, "Chris Chambers, Chris Zaremba, and Sean Buckley will need to play a big role in our offensive attack," said Tryder "We have six returning defensemen and they will all be expected to contribute. We will have a good battle for playing time in the net as senior Aaron Runner will be joined by two new quality goalies."

After playing in the Becker Tournament, PSU will open up conference play on the road against Worcester State and Salem State. You can catch PSU's first home game against UMass Dartmouth on Saturday, November 21 at 6:00 PM. This will be PSU's last season playing at Waterville Valley before they move into the new ice arena across from the PE Center.