Wildcats look to stay strong after record year
No one will dispute the difficulty that comes with following the stellar performance of last year’s hockey team. Centered with the great performances of Paddy Spellacy and Liam Geither, the Wildcats went undefeated in the regular season and set numerous records. Last year’s team was dubbed the winningest hockey program ever. Some might say this could be a rebuilding year; Mr. O’ Rourke has other ideas.
Admitting the difficulties with replacing someone like a Spellacy or a Geither, O’Rourke says that he has a completely different team altogether. With senior leadership from senior Miles McQuinn and company, the team has a bright future ahead of it. As he mentioned during the winter sports rally, this team plays a totally different brand of hockey, with an emphasis on hustle and physicality. O’ Rourke says that this team is not about the incredible individual goal-scoring like last year’s team, but rather has a wide variety of scorers who could score ten to fifteen goals each. O’Rourke says that he is happy with the physical nature of this team, pointing out that this year’s team made more hits in their first two scrimmages than the previous team had in the entire season. Though this team may not have the blowout wins that last year’s team had, Coach O’Rourke is excited to see a new brand of Saint Ignatius hockey.
O’ Rourke is very happy with the work ethic of this year’s team. Miles McQuinn ’13 has called this team the hardest-working team that he has seen at Saint Ignatius, and Coach O’Rourke could not agree more. He says that this team bought into the system from the very beginning, starting at the beach for summer workouts. The team began in the summer with highly attended conditioning practices way back in July. These practices, attended not only by upperclassmen but also by dedicated freshmen and sophomores, showed the commitment of this team.
Though this team may not have the high-publicity name, Mr. O’Rourke believes that because of his team’s unselfish play, they still can have great offensive output. O’Rourke says that there are no egos that could interfere with the success of this team. This means that this year’s team has a focus of developing its own style of unselfish play. O’Rourke has put an emphasis on controlling the puck from goalkeeper to goal-scorer, which seems to not be a problem so far in this early season. The hockey ‘Cats, with only a few exceptions, have been able to control the puck even against tough defensive teams like Walsh Jesuit.
All in all, the hockey ‘Cats will be able to be successful this year if they continue to develop their own style of hockey, continue to work hard and buy into the system, and control the puck even against strong defensive teams. Despite high expectations from last year, Coach O’Rourke is nevertheless looking for a big performance this year. In conclusion, when asked how his team will beat the Eagles on December 14th, with a great smile Mr. O’Rourke replied \”We’ll show up.”
