The Roger Williams Hawks are one of five new D-III teams playing this season at the NCAA level. Like Beloit, Hiram and St John Fisher, the Hawks have already tasted victory with their opening season 4-3 overtime win over Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Since opening night, the Hawks have struggled in five consecutive losses but there are lots of positives after Saturday’s 5-4 overtime win over Wentworth as they build to playing sixty minutes every game at the collegiate level.
“If you are going to get a win as a new program, then none better that opening night when everyone is watching,” said head coach Chris Hall. “It was great to get that milestone with such a young team and now we are seeing what it takes to play good and consistent hockey at the D-III level. We have twenty-eight first-year players who are making the big jump from junior hockey to the college game. I don’t think we have been outclassed talent-wise, but we need to be more disciplined and avoid compounding mistakes because shifts are too long or we can’t sustain offensive zone time. I have no doubt we will be a better team as we learn to put a full sixty minutes together and generate more offense.”
On opening night, freshman Daxton St Hilaire not only recorded a hat trick in his first collegiate game, but scored the game-winning goal against the Corsairs with his final tally in the one-goal win. Daxton added a second OT winner to his young collegiate resume on Saturday in the hawks’ win over the Leopards. Brother Cooper has also excelled for the Hawks but not his usual defensive position as Daxton’s twin brother has recently played center on his brother’s line due to some early season injuries.
“Daxton has been great for us and plays about twenty minutes a night,” noted Hall. “Cooper has shown his versatility in shifting to forward which also plays into his game as he has good offensive skills as a defenseman. These guys, like much of the roster are only going to get better as they get accustomed to the college game. It is the worst of coach cliches but we just want to be better every day and these guys are demonstrating that.”
Even first year programs need some experience on the roster and Coach Hall has four players with D-III experience that have shown leadership in helping the new players assimilate quickly. Junior captain Gabe Reis (Misericordia), juniors Shane Adler (Suffolk) and Max Chagovets (Johnson & Wales), and senior Jason Tynan (Lebanon Valley) are the veterans of the squad who came excited to help build a new program. While Chagovets has been limited by an early season injury, all of the upperclassmen have provided great support on and off the ice as the players adjust to not only collegiate hockey but also the daily academic and schedule challenges.
“These guys knew exactly what we were trying to build here as a program and have bought in 1000%,” noted Hall. “Gabe was elected captain by the team and he has represented the “C” well along with the other upperclassmen in helping the new guys with everything you can imagine in and away from the rink.”
The Hawks joined the CNE this year and compete in one of the most challenging leagues in the country with the likes of Curry, Endicott and UNE on the schedule. Following their first two-game series against one team (Wentworth) this past weekend, the Hawks now have a good taste for what the compete level needs to be every night as they have an eye on the future and where they would like to be, come February, 2026.
One game at a time, play, learn, and eliminate the big mistakes that have been a problem for small sections of games so far,” said Hall. “February is a long way off and we will need to win some games to get into the CNE playoffs – that is our goal. We have that date circled on the calendar and so getting better each game is pushing us towards the team we want to be and ultimately the results we want to see.”
After the weekend split with Wentworth, the Hawks will close out the first half with three more games including Tuesday against fellow newcomer Western Connecticut before closing out the semester with Western New England and Massachusetts-Boston.