By Aaron Heller //
Hood’s women’s ice hockey team will make its debut on Oct. 26.
From places as diverse as Pennsylvania, Utah, Minnesota and Nova Scotia, the players are looking for the chance to compete for the MAC championship.
The Blazer hockey program is identified with four pillars: trust, discipline, accountability, and creativity. The team will be led by head coach Josh Funk and assistant coaches Joey Kolega, Tim Coffin and Alisa Canney.
“I am very excited for the upcoming season,” Funk said. “We are a very young team with 24 new freshmen, but they all came in prepared, and it is exciting that it is finally here.”
The Blazers will compete in the MAC Conference against teams from Arcadia University, Stevenson University, Wilkes University, King’s College (Pa), Alvernia University, Lebanon Valley College, and Neumann University.
Home ice for the Blazers will be located at Skate Frederick, 1288 Riverbend Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701.
Freshman Dakota Ormiston is very excited to be a part of the Blazers’ inaugural season.
“It’s been great training with the girls so far, and I can’t wait to get into full swing,” Ormiston said. “Right now, I am very optimistic that our team will do very well in the league because of the hard work everyone has been putting in.”
Despite being a team full of freshmen who met only two months ago, she said the team feels like a family.
“As a first-year team of all freshmen, our chemistry has prospered in many ways,” Ormiston said. “From the start, we came in together and immediately clicked. Spending so much time together on and off the ice has been inspiring. It’s great to see how well we all mesh and communicate.”
Freshman Lilly Scardicchio added, “So far, the team already has a lot of chemistry, and I think we will produce a lot this season if we push each other and focus on how we can improve and grow together as a program.”
Funk said part of the recruitment strategy was to search far from Frederick. “We brought in players from all across North America, so they can bond over being far away from home,” he said.
The Blazers open their season on Oct. 26 against Navy in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I think we will surprise some teams we play, and I am excited to see how the players respond to that,” Funk said. “So, with that in mind, we are working towards making the MAC playoffs because only four teams make it in ice hockey, so that would be a massive accomplishment for us in year one.”
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