On April 9, the Washington University club roller hockey team traveled to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the 2008 National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships. The team competed in the Division II tournament.

“Coming into the season, we did not know what to expect since we lost a lot of seniors to graduation. We went beyond expectations across the board. We received a bid to the Nationals that we weren’t expecting,” junior Craig Markovitz, the team’s goalie and president, said.

While the team went 0-4 in the tournament, losing to eventual champion Neumann College, Sam Houston State University and twice to Elon University (Phoenix), the team finished off a strong season with a combined regular and postseason record of 11-11-1.

“The fact that we made it [to Nationals] with such a young team was really great. The guys will continue to improve and grow more confident.The talent is there,” senior Andrew Stern, the captain of the team, stated.

“A lot of the teams played more of a run-and-gun style. We have more of a slow-it-down, defensive style of play. It’s a matter of experience. Now that we know these things, we can practice for that next year,” Markovitz added.

This year’s trip marks the fourth straight to nationals for Wash. U. The team finished third in the nation in 2005.

The 11-6-1 regular season put the Red and Green in fourth in the Great Plains region, 10 points behind regular season champion Missouri State University. The team opened the year on a five-game winning streak but ended the season with seven consecutive losses.

Though the team never beat Missouri State, it tied a Feb. 10 contest with the No. 2 team in the nation, which proved to be one of the highlights of the season. “With 47 seconds left, we tied the game. It was really a win for us since we showed we could compete with anyone,” Stern said.

Stern led the team in points with 37, followed by sophomore John Harvey with 31 and junior Alex Tint with 30. Tint led the team in scoring with 22 goals while Stern led in assists with 19.

Freshmen Jonathan Wald, Daniel D’Amico, Joe Tutro and junior Doug Hyde recorded double-digit points this season, finishing the year with 17, 14, 13 and 13 points respectively.

Markovitz averaged 3.73 goals-against over the regular and postseason, and he recorded two shutouts in the regular season against Western Illinois University and Southeast Missouri State University.

With the team virtually intact next season, Markovitz thinks that they will, “possibly compete for a national championship.”

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