Posted by Rebecca Shesser
Skidmore Men's Hockey opened league play against the University of New England on Friday night with a 5-2 win in front of a large home crowd at the annual Pack the Rink event. The Thoroughbreds outshot the Nor'easters 29-25. Highlights included senior forward Vlad Gavrik leading the Thoroughbred offense with three goals and notching his first career hat trick and freshman goalie Jack McDonald stopping 23 shots on net.
UNE started the scoring with a rebound goal in the first period. Junior forward Dave Limoges responded shortly thereafter with assists by Nick Mannarino '15 and Aaron Beck '14. The Thoroughbreds dominated second period play, scoring twice in the first two and a half minutes, with Gavrik and Beck registering the go-ahead goals. UNE's Zeth Zielinski scored for the Nor'easters bringing his team back to within one goal, but Gavrik quickly regained the 2-goal lead with a beautiful breakaway goal beating the glove of UNE goalie, Colby Drost. Gavrik capped off the night's scoring with a second breakaway goal, beating Drost for the third time when his backhander found its way into the back of the net. The Throughbred's five goals were assisted by Ondrej Krajnak '16, Thomas Park '15, Anders Gunderson '15 and Tony Giacin '14. The Thoroughbreds improved to 2-0 for the season with the victory.
The night's festivities were co-sponsored by the Skidmore Crew team, whose members managed the highly successful canned food drive. The Skidmore Women's Lacrosse team also sponsored a successful 50/50 raffle to fundraise for their upcoming season.
Arguably the most exciting portion of the night came during the first intermission with the always-competitive tricycle ice race. Four teams took to the ice but only one came out as champion. Sophomores Cassie Fishkin, Lila Rosenfeld and Emma Harris took home the $50 Peabody's gift card as well as invaluable amounts of pride with their victory.
"I was just so nervous," winner Cassie Fishkin said through tears of joy during the post-event interview, "but all my hard work really paid off and I'm just overwhelmed by how well I carried this team on my back."
Fellow winner Lila Rosenfeld also commented, "I donated my hair a couple weeks ago and I think getting rid of that extra weight is what really lifted this team to victory." Fishkin and Rosenfeld, Skidmore Softball team members, were later heard plotting ways to keep their third teammate, Women's Lacrosse team member Emma Harris '16, from sharing in their Peabody's bounty.
All in all, it proved to be a most successful night for the Skidmore Thoroughbreds.