Chasing the dream: WashU’s men’s ice hockey fights for a spot at nationals

KOKINOS STAFF WRITER

The national championship tournament for non-NCAA collegiate ice hockey teams has been one of the primary goals for the WashU men’s ice hockey team since the start of last season.

Despite a 5-0 loss to thirdranked Arkansas in playoffs the previous year, the team has rebounded with a vengeance and commitment to return to the playoffs and compete for a spot at Nationals.

When the players arrived at preseason this year, they approached it with an attitude of making amends, as sophomore goalie Jake Friedman noted. He had an expectation that the team would be competing at Nationals this year. This expectation was shared throughout the locker room, as teammates committed to each other with promises to fight together every time they stepped onto the ice.

And they did.

The Bears hockey team is had a standout regular season. They clinched their regional division title, the MACHA south division, secured the Forest Park Cup in a head-tohead match against St. Louis University, and were ranked a historical high #3 in the nation by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). Much of this success is a testament to their cohesive play and trust in each other as teammates. As Head Coach Chris

Nikonovich bluntly put it, this group is “adaptive” to different scenarios, which he cites as one of the foremost reasons for the team’s success this year.

After winning the first six games of the season, with a memorable comeback against rivals SLU for their first piece of silverware, the Bears were ranked #3 in ACHA rankings— their highest result ever. However, their ranking would tumble down to 26th with two consecutive shutout losses to Missouri State.

The 26th ranking wasn’t good enough for the goals of the team, mainly because that low ranking pragmatically put them out of national contention. For nationals, the top 16

High hopes for men’s tennis at the beginning of their spring season

seeded teams receive automatic bids to participate in the tournament—a national ranking that is heavily based on their regular season record. These teams are known as the “auto-bid” teams.

However, if a team is outside the top-16 but still ranked highly, they can compete in the single-elimination regional playoffs for a national spot. If they perform well within these regional playoffs, it will positively affect their national rankings.

So, with six regular season games left on the calendar and a series against Marian University, Maryville University, and Kansas University, the Bears realized that it was necessary to win as many games as possible to boost their national hopes. Sophomore Noah Raimi stated that “when the team is down, they try to build each other back up:” a mindset the team has adopted to take each game one at a time.

Echoing these statements, Nikonovich remarked that the team had been “able to adapt to different strategies, roll with the punches of the regular season, and excel in positions they wouldn’t normally be in.” This approach ultimately led the Bears to persevere, winning 5 out of their last 6 games, ending the season with a 12-3 record, and rising as high as 12th in the rankings before settling at 19th after a very close win against Kansas.

With just 3 spots separating them from the coveted auto-bid, the Bears charge into their playoff season with an unbreakable spirit and momentum. Brimming with confidence and poise, the team is ready to unleash its full potential and skate its way to glory. On Friday, they will face the formidable 12th-ranked Mizzou in a single-elimination regional showdown. The team is determined to win this crucial game to secure their place among the top 16 contenders for Nationals. As Friedman puts it, the team feels extremely “confident and good” about overcoming this hurdle. With that confidence and poise, the team is determined to make their way to Nationals.

Coming off of a dominant fall season, the Washington University men’s tennis team is hoping to bring the same energy to their spring games. In an interview with Student Life, junior Gaurav Singh gave insight into what he is looking forward to this spring.

Background

The WashU Men’s Tennis team is competitive with its peers, whether that be other Division III teams or some local Division II teams. Singh specifically pointed out a unique characteristic of the WashU team: everyone is very close together in terms of level and skill. He added that other teams have a larger disparity between players and that the closeness of the WashU team was a strength of the group. Going into the spring season, the team picked up a few promising recruits in the freshman class, as well as two transfers, both of whom are coming from Division I schools. “I think we are definitely looking better than last year and to do some damage at Indoor Championships,” said Singh “And then more importantly, later in the year at conference and hopefully at NCAAs.”

Big Matchups

The most notable competition that the team is set to go to this year is the National Indoor Championships which will take place in Minnesota this year. Eight teams are invited and the Championship follows a compass draw model, allowing players to play at least three matches.

“Last year we got third place. We lost to Chicago and we kind of had a brutal moment with an injury or two,” said Singh “But, we’re looking to do really well there this year.”

In April, the team will travel down to Florida to compete in its UAA Conference Tournament. This tournament determines whether or not the team will qualify for the NCAA tournament, an important goal for the Bears this year.

Breaking the Curse

In Singh’s freshman year, the team lost in the national semifinals to Case Western Reserve University. Just last year, the team lost in the Elite Eight to Middlebury College. But this year, it is hoping for redemption in the postseason.

One example of the odd luck that has followed the team was when they faced their biggest rival, Emory

University. “Prior to my freshman year, I think we had lost to them five or six years in a row. Coming into sophomore year, we were scheduled to play Emory at the first round of national indoors,” he said “The last match was playing and it was our line six singles guy. He was playing a really close match and he just split sets. And he started to cramp up so all of us started freaking out. But then, our coach said, ‘Does anyone have like pickle juice or mustard?’”

At that point, Gaurav ran to the refrigerator to see if any ingredients were in the facility. Surprisingly, there was a small bottle of mustard tucked away behind two bottles of Gatorade. The coach proceeded to give it to the cramping player, and miraculously, the player ended up winning the third set six to two.

Gaurav finished the story with something that was on everyone’s mind after that last set, “I guess something magical was in that mustard.”

The team has one matchup under its belt, a 7-2 win against Division I Lindenwood University, a big team win where all the singles won their matches. They face South Baptist University on Feb. 11 before heading to ITA Indoor Nationals in St. Peter, Minnesota.