New York, NY -- The NYU hockey team is considered a favorite to win the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division II National Championship Tournament this year at Chelsea Piers. Tickets for the weekend are free for NYU students.
The four-day event begins this Wednesday. The top four teams from each regional division in the ACHA are placed into four pools. The winner of the pool moves on to the semi-finals and finals on Sunday. NYU, unanimously ranked first in the Northeast Regional rankings with five first-place votes, is followed by Siena College, SUNY-Stony Brook and Montclair State University.
NYU's hockey team has come a long way in the past few years. In 2000, it made the ACHA tournament for the first time, when Miami University of Ohio won the championships and Indiana University was the runner up, and it placed 15th out of 16. Last year, the Violets improved to place ninth overall, with a 1-1-1 record in their pool.
"This year we're pretty well rested so we should have a good run,"" co-Captain Ryan Hughes said.
Returning champion Life University, which won four of the last five tournaments, is the team NYU's looking to beat, and should be a big presence in the tournament. NYU's only loss of the season came at the hands of Life University on Nov. 18. The team was hurt by Life's older players and lost, 9-4.
"We really want to see them in the finals,"" junior Bryan Schleppy said. ""It would be a nice payback."
Hughes said that Thursday's game against the University of Michigan (UMich) would be a real test for the team. On Feb. 1, UMich tied Life and then beat them the next day in overtime.
"They're a good team," Hughes said. "They're always a tough team to beat, but we can beat them. We have the talent [to compete with them], too."
Schleppy predicted that UMich will be the toughest team they face in their pool, but Robert Morris College will be the most physical team they play.
"I think our team has more speed than most teams in this league, so I don't think it should be a problem," Schleppy said. "We're pretty physical ourselves."
The Violets believe they can win the tournament this year.
"We're looking to obviously keep improving and get the final win," Schleppy said.