A look at the CNE standings finds the usual suspects lurking at the top of the standings with UNE, Curry and Endicott in close proximity but none atop the leaderboard. The Suffolk Rams currently hold the top spot by a single point following their weekend sweep of Wentworth last weekend and look to build momentum in the remaining sprint of games in the regular season with four teams separated by just three points.
“This is a great group of kids,” stated fourth-year head coach Shawn McEachern. “They are just “hockey-junkies,” always excited to come to the rink, wearing big smiles and mostly having fun on the ice which is contagious to everyone on the coaching staff too. When I was playing for the Ottawa Senators, head coach Jacque Martin told us the best job in the world was being a hockey player and the second-best job was being a hockey coach – I kind of think he was right.
McEachern has seen the growth in his young roster as the season has progressed with frequent contributions up and down the line-up each night. Most prolific for the Rams has been the sophomore line of Nolan Leonard (4G – 15A – 19 Pts; +11), Aidan O’Connell (7G – 6A – 13 Pts; +12) and Marko Giourof (12G – 10A – 22 Pts; +12) who clicked almost from their first moments on the ice together to start preparing for the season.
“It is not easy to find the combinations of players across each line,” noted McEachern. “That sophomore line really connected early in the year and now we are seeing the other lines starting to produce some offense giving us some balance which helps in the battles we face every game in the CNE. It is so true that anyone can beat anyone at the D-III level and it applies in our league for sure. Before splitting with UNE, we lost to Roger Williams and then bounced back with two solid wins against Wentworth. We have to stay disciplined and focused on playing our style of hockey to be successful and when we do that well for sixty minutes, we have seen results.”
Part of the playing consistent has been the hallmark of first-year netminder Austin McNicholas who has started every game so far this season for the Rams. McNicholas, who sports a 2.25 goals-against average, .896 save percentage and four shutouts, has come up big in key situations and games for Suffolk leading into the stretch run.
“The season goes by so quickly,” said McEachern. “You get rolling in the first half and then the Christmas break and now you start again with a sprint in January and February trying to be the best you can be for the conference tournament. This group has really progressed in their understanding of “playing the right way” and we want to see more of that on a consistent basis heading down the final stretch of conference games. We have a weekend series with Johnson & Wales starting on Friday night in their rink where they make things difficult for opponents. Eric [Noack] takes advantage of the smaller surface in their home rink by playing a physical game with some bigger players on their roster. We saw what they did against Curry so we need to be ready to play from the opening puck drop – there are no nights off and we will see if our guys can continue the momentum from last weekend into this one.”
The Rams have just eight regular season games in conference left with Nichols, Western New England and Curry following the two-game series with the Wildcats. Points are at a premium and if the Rams are going to stay at the top, the young players will need to continue to improve over the remaining four weeks of the regular season.