Cold Reception for Rivals
Broncs ice TCNJ, Lafayette

By Paul Mullin

The objective for the ice hockey team this far into the season was to be on the better side of .500.

Having done that, coming up with a pair of convincing wins against two of its biggest rivals was just the icing on the cake.

The Broncs, sitting at 5-2-1, have come up big across the board, sporting a roster that is half-filled with rookie players. According to Head Coach Ted Gerry, this youth has not been a drawback to any extent.

“We have a lot of young kids that are really doing a great job,” Gerry said. “They’ve all been pretty impressive.”

The biggest story of the last two weeks has not been the team’s impressive corps of young players, however.

On Saturday, Oct. 14, Rider took on The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) at home at Louck’s Ice Center, located on the campus of The Lawrenceville School. The result was a 6-3 drubbing of the Lions that has renewed campus interest in the sport.

“It’s a huge rivalry,” said Gerry. “They [TCNJ] have been having one of the best years they’ve ever had.”

But that didn’t stop the Broncs from continuing their trend of being an incredible third period team.

“We’ve been great in the third period all year,” Gerry said. “I don’t think we’ve lost a third period yet. We might have tied one, but we haven’t lost any.”

According to Gerry and sophomore forward Glen Binger, the two teams both practice at the same rink, which made for some interesting sessions leading up to the game.

“They’re always watching us practice and go through drills and they know all our key players,” Binger explained. “The coaches always push us as hard as they can, so just to beat them is a big deal.”

Even though the game was at Rider’s home rink, the fact that both teams practice there should have negated the factor of home ice advantage. But according to Gerry, that wasn’t the case.

“I would say we have one of the best crowds of anybody,” he said. “There is nothing better than playing in front of a home crowd, and there were definitely more Rider students out there than TCNJ.

“Going out there on the ice and hearing the cheering and clapping, it really pumps you up,” Gerry continued. “And of course everybody wants to play well in front of their girlfriends or their moms and dads.”

Despite the increased following the team has attracted this year, Binger maintained that it is important to learn to maintain the same level of play despite the crowd, home or otherwise.

“It’s good to have the home crowd, but you have to tune it out,” he said. “You have to just focus on the game and what you have to do. You can’t lose concentration from the game.”

The fact that it was a big rivalry game also affected the team, Gerry said, but the new players didn’t let it get to their performances.

“Sure they were nervous,” Gerry said, “but once you get out there on the ice things change, and they all played better than expected.”

A week later on Oct. 21, the Broncs followed up a tough loss to St. Joseph’s with another big rivalry game.

The team challenged Lafayette at home, and for the first two periods it didn’t look like the Broncs were going to escape with a win.

With the score at 2-0 at the beginning of the third period, Rider’s third period prowess kicked in, and the Broncs came up with five goals before time expired to take the game 5-2.
Gerry attributed the team’s third period strength to an intense training regiment, and a surplus of players.

“The kids went through a tough few days of training camp in the first few days of school,” he said. “That conditioning and using four different lines is why we are such a good third period team.”

“That conditioning” was led by DJ Nork, a trainer who regularly works with the Philadelphia Flyers, Phantoms and 76ers during their training camps.

The Broncs should hope that they stay this good, because it isn’t going to get any easier.
Gerry seconded that notion, explaining that the team shouldn’t be too eager to pin all its hopes on the last period.

“We can’t really depend on the third quarter to win games,” he said. “We have to get better in the first two.”

On the upcoming schedule the Broncs are looking at another game against perennial power Wagner, one of the top teams in the country, and two games against conference leading William Paterson.

So as for that winning record, the Broncs are definitely going to have to put their best foot forward, because as far as Gerry is concerned, none of the upcoming games are sure wins.

“You can never overlook anybody in this conference,” he said.