Men's Hockey opens 09-10 season on home ice this weekend at Windsor Arena

The Windsor Lancers Men's Hockey team enters the 2009-10 season looking to take another step forward in their quest for the program's next OUA Queen's Cup Championship.

This weekend, the Lancers will host the Brock Badgers and Waterloo Warriors at Windsor Arena.

Last season, the Lancers finished with a 13-13-0-2 record, good enough for a 15-point turnaround from the previous year. The team's 28 points were more than double their total of thirteen from 2007-08.

Under Hamlin's guidance, the Lancers finished just two points of a playoff spot while playing in the toughest division in Canada.

The Lancers head into this weekend's games after a solid pre-season that saw Coach Hamlin's squad finish runner up in the first annual Lancer Invitational hosted in late September. The Lancers went 1-1 on home soil against UOIT and Carleton respectively.

In addition to OUA pre-season action, the Lancers also participated in pair of NCAA non-conference games last weekend against NCAA Division 1 #1 ranked Miami (Ohio) and the #4 ranked Michigan Wolverines.

Windsor turned in a strong performance against Miami on Saturday night despite falling 6-2 to the number one ranked team in the nation. Sunday against Michigan, they looked even better as they led the Wolverines 2-1 late in the second period before a parade of penalties tilted the game in Michigan's favour and a 6-2 final score.

On the ice, the Lancers return 18 players from last year's team while also adding another group of top recruits to the program.

In goal, Jim Watt is expected to once again carry the load while Frank Dayus will provide depth in net for Coach Hamlin. Watt, a native of Edmonton, AB was named an OUA First Team All-Star last season after finishing near the top of the CIS in almost every statistical category including goals against average and save percentage.

On defense, the Lancers look to have one of the strongest units of any team in the province. Returners Scott Todd (Windsor, OHL), Matt McCready (St. Mike's, OHL), Ryan Crouch (Sudbury, OHL) and Kyle Lang (St. Clair College) will anchor the blueline along with top recruits Steve Ferry (Sarnia, OHL) and Christian Steingraber (Plymouth, OHL).

Up front, last year's leading scorer Kyle Nishizaki returns alongside Josh Gaynor, Danny Anger, Brett Vandehogen, Mark Thorburn and Brett Oliphant to provide some needed experience for a young core of forwards.

They'll be joined by a trio of recruits who'll be looked upon to add some scoring punch this year. Rookies Kyle Tront (Saginaw, OHL), Anthony Tapper (St. Mike's, OHL) and Ryan Federman (Thorold, WOHL) will all be expected to play significant minutes this season as the Lancers push to earn a playoff berth in 2009-10.

The upcoming season should feature another exciting edition of Lancer Men's Hockey as Coach Hamlin's squad looks to continue their quest of building a championship calibre program at the University of Windsor.

The Lancers face-off against the Brock Badgers on Friday night at 7:30pm and then take on the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday at 7:30pm. Both games are at Windsor Arena, the home of Lancer men's hockey.

Print Friendly Version