By Katherine Abayev, Staff Writer
As the winter starts, LIU Men’s Ice Hockey starts a new season. They have played thirteen games so far, winning seven; an incredible feat considering the fact that LIU’s first season as a program came in the 2020-2021 season. This has been one of their best starts considering the program’s young history. Even though the team is relatively new to Division 1 ice hockey, they are facing powerful opponents and holding their own.
The team has played ten straight games on the road amassing a 5-5-1 record before making their home debut at the Northwell Health Ice Center this past weekend. In a two-game series, they defeated Yale twice.
Isaac Lambert, a freshman business administration major, details the long journey it has been before making their home debut.
“We have been on the road a lot, which could be seen as a disadvantage, but it made us get so much tighter, so much quicker,” he said.
On October 25, they faced Notre Dame, a Big Ten opponent who is nationally ranked, and suffered a loss.
Led by the newly appointed team captain, JJ Gormley, a senior majoring in health sciences, the Sharks were focused in their second matchup against the Fighting Irish.
“We paid special attention to detail… we did a better job of executing the gameplay that was set forth by our coaching staff, and we ended up with the win on Saturday,” Gormely said.
The win was Gormley’s 100th career game as a Shark.
“It’s cliche, but they say ‘blink and you’ll miss it’. It feels like yesterday I walked onto campus as a freshman and this weekend I played in my 100th game and it really did go by just like that. When you’re surrounded by such good people, staff, and friends, I think that’s what makes it fly by like that,” he said.
When they achieved their win against Notre Dame, Lambert felt it came from a collective effort.
“It was truly a team effort and an unreal moment that I will never forget,” Lambert said. “We knew we were the underdogs, and that’s when we are the best. We know what we have and what we can bring to this game.”
Gormely was honored when appointed captain prior to the season.
“It meant everything. I’m so incredibly grateful that my teammates, coaches, and staff believe in me, and I don’t take that lightly,” he said.
These Sharks are very adaptive on and off the ice, always trying to see how they can improve and win their next game. They are keeping incredible attitudes by always using teamwork and building up their teammates to help encourage everyone to be their best selves.
The Sharks’ greatest advantage is the element of surprise. Often underestimated, it can make for the strongest moves to really catch the opponents off guard. This hockey team has an understanding of that and truly embraces it and that is what makes every win feel even better. That feeling of knowing that people may not expect you to win, but still doing so and proving everyone wrong. However, this hockey team is not one to scoff at, they are making incredible, and the 2024-2025 season is still very young, leaving a lot of room for more success to come for these Sharks.
The quoted material contained in this article was courtesy of the Friday LIU Athletics edition of 88.1 FM WCWP’s “Sports Shark Tank,” with the original episode airing on Nov. 22, 2024. “Sports Shark Tank” airs Monday through Friday from 5:00-6:00 p.m. on 88.1 FM, WCWP.org, and streaming on the WCWP mobile app.
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