 "Photo: Courtesy of Ted Wilson")
Last Monday night, the San Diego State club hockey team gathered at Woodstock's for one last fundraising dinner before its 6 a.m. flight to Fort Wayne, Ind.
Head coach David Hough, team president and senior forward Adam York and senior forward Will Charland sat together and reflected on the past season and task that lay ahead: making their first appearance in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III National Championships.
A big step up for a team that failed to win a single game three years ago.
SDSU punched its ticket to Fort Wayne, finishing the year ranked No. 2 in D-III of the American Collegiate Hockey Association. They also took down top-seeded Northern Arizona in the title game of the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament.
Hough attributed the success to hard work, focus and camaraderie both on the ice and off.
"(Three years ago) there was not enough bonding off the ice," Hough said. "Now the guys are more accountable to each other. They hang out together and gel."
Hough said one of the biggest reasons for the program's turnaround has been York stepping up and taking the reigns as team president. York said he took the job because he wanted to take on the necessary organizational duties to improve the team.
"Adam gave us the foundation we really needed to have successful seasons," Hough said.
And it appears to have paid off. York said there are now more coaches and a better turnout at tryouts, providing more talent for the team to work with. But York and Hough agreed that the biggest change has been the camaraderie within the team.
Hough said transfer students have been teaching maturity to the younger players and that York has been taking the time to tutor his teammates. He also said the strength of the team's bond has come from Charland, its leading scorer.
"Will will yell at a guy if he's doing bad, but he will also be the first to buy a guy a beer if he does something good," Hough said.
Charland said that this type of "tough love" was key in forming strong relationships within the team.
"They're like my coworkers, like family," Charland said. "Actually, it's more like a brotherhood, really."
That feeling of brotherhood translated to success on the ice. Hough said one standout performance was freshman forward Ben Nicoll's natural hat trick in just the first quarter against Sacramento State on Jan. 12. Senior goalie Corey Jackson had the league's lowest goal-against-average, earning him PCHA Defensive Player of the Year honors.
The Aztecs took the momentum of winning the PCHA title last Tuesday to Fort Wayne, but lost in the opening round loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After coming back to beat Central Florida, they lost two straight to College of the Canyons and Penn State-Berks, finishing 12th in the tournament and with an overall record of 17-9-1.
Ask Hough, York or Charland, all of whom were part of the winless team three years ago, and they'll say that 17 wins has a much better ring to it than zero.
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