Laurier Brantford hockey is back

Serena Anagbe / Photo Editor
#17 and #12 on the women’s hockey team mid-game.

Hockey season is back, and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford Golden Hawks are already getting it done.

Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams travelled together to Humber College to take on multiple opponents in a one-day season opening tournament.

The men’s team ended the day with a 2-2 record, starting off slow but ending their opening tournament on the winning side. The Hawks started their day falling short to Humber College with a score of 2-0 and losing 5-2 to Collège La Cité.

“I think we did better than most of us expected, considering we only had about two to three practices prior,” said first-year criminology student Ryan Goldberg-Rogers. This is his rookie year with the Laurier Brantford men’s hockey team.

Second-year digital media and journalism student Mitchell Hartman scored in both of their last two games, where the Hawks saw themselves on the winning side beating Canadore College 3-2 and University of Toronto Mississauga 2-1.

Goldberg-Rogers shared that the men’s team decided their key to success was to keep it simple and play together as a team.

“We want to introduce some systems as well, including power play, breakouts and more,” said Goldberg-Rogers.

The men’s hockey team hopes to win a championship this year and make another appearance in the RECCup.

Goldberg-Rogers hopes that he and the team “can go all the way and win the championship, but obviously also have fun and make great memoires along the way.”

On the women’s side, fourth-year social work student and hockey player Kira Hoskins said, “Although we didn’t get to win like we hoped to, it was a great start to the season seeing as we have never played as a team before.”

“We have all agreed that we need to work on our positioning for our next tournament and taking those opportunities right in front of the goalie,” said Hoskins. “When we improve in those areas, I know we will start to win our games.”

Both teams were informed of their official roster the night before the tournament, which gave athletes very little time to prepare together as a team.

Laurier Brantford women’s and men’s hockey teams will travel to Fanshawe College on Jan. 25 to compete in their second season tournament.