Oftentimes in sports, things don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always go as you would expect them. (For further clarification, ask any fan of the New England Patriots.) <\/p>\n
That can certainly be said of the Worcester State Lancers program this season. Currently in 12th place with a 2-10-0 record, the team in enduring an injury riddled campaign the likes of which have never been seen by coach John Guiney.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Overall, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been pretty rough, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all injury related,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Guiney. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 16 years of coaching, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen anything like this. Mark Rintel broke his leg in the fourth game of the season, Billy O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s missed the whole second semester with a concussion. <\/p>\n
“In the same game Rintel got hurt, we had Mark Bucci cut tendons in his hand when he went into the corner and a skate blade went through his glove into his hand. Matt Auwater also suffered a high ankle sprain. All of these injuries, plus the flu, has made it a real strange season.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Despite an overall record of 2-18-0, and a losing streak that ran more than two months, Guiney feels the team can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be judged on wins and losses. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our record isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t indicative of the team we have, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just bad luck,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve played better recently. The kids recognize where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at, that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re missing Rintel and O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neil, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve stepped up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
With the shortened bench, Guiney has had to make adjustments. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You move some guys around due to the injuries, and you realize you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the depth you thought you did back in October. At the beginning of the year, we had three good lines, and four to five good defensemen. The injuries changed things dramatically.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The kids have kept a good attitude. They come to practice, they work hard. It hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been a negative season, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a tough season. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a young team, we only have three seniors. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking forward to next year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Guiney has been helped out by some of his players realizing they need to take on more. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of the kids have been stepping up,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Guiney noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lee Belisle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done a really good job for us. These kids are 100% behind what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing. Injuries are a bad excuse. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re putting a lot of pressure on these kids, as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking them to play a lot of minutes. There are no gifts in this league.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Among those players seeing a lot of ice time are Chris Wallin, William Knauber, and Nathan Perrault. These three have suddenly become the defense. Another player who has shown his coach a lot in terms of toughness is freshman forward Justin Brownstein. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He may have a broken wrist. I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing hurt, but he shows up to play. I keep asking him how he is, and he keeps telling me \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be okay.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 These kids don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look at the schedule or record. It would be easy to quit, but they haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
As the season winds down, Framingham State has games left against Curry, Sale Regina, Assumption, and Plymouth State. Guiney hopes to end strong. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On paper, we could win a couple of games. We have the ability, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the depth. We have small numbers to work with. You could sit and dwell on how bad it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going, but what good will that do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oftentimes in sports, things don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always go as you would expect them. (For further clarification, ask any fan of the New England Patriots.) That can certainly be said of the Worcester State Lancers program this season. Currently in 12th place with a 2-10-0 record, the team in enduring an injury riddled campaign the likes of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n