Lady Vees looking for rebound season

Going back to square one may not be exactly the game plan that most third year university hockey players want to hear. Yet that is exactly what athlete and coach agree is needed for the Laurentian Voyageurs women's hockey team this year.

After surprising many OUA onlookers with a nine-win season right out of the gate in their inaugural year in the league, the Laurentian crew dropped back to post a record of 3-16-5 in 2014-2015.

Cracking a playoff spot in the top eight might be tough this year, but looking to improve on the results of one year ago is certainly a realistic goal.

"Honestly, I think we have to be more relaxed," said veteran forward Jessica Staats, who joined captain Julie Hébert as the only player to reach double digits in points.

"In the first year, we all came in not knowing anything, all just here to play hockey. Second year, we had to try and live up to how we played in the first year, and I think that took a toll on us."

"The players had no expectations as to what competition would be like in year one," said head coach Stacey Colarossi.

"We need to return to that, to the energy that we brought in the first year. We need to return to just playing the game, and worrying about us, and not worrying about what other teams are bringing."

"If we play with tempo and pace, we'll be fine," Colarossi said.

If the book on Laurentian has been, in their short history, a hard-working team with the ability to showcase outstanding goaltending from time to time, then the need to improve on an OUA low of just 36 goals scored is also in the mix.

"We allow a lot of shots on net, and our goalies make a lot of stops," said Staats. "But we have to do our job as forwards and put pucks in the net."

An assistant coach under former national team head coach Dan Church at York University, Colarossi is hopeful that some of that development will be part and parcel of taking a core of athletes who now have two years of post-secondary competition into battle.

"They have grown as people, they have grown as hockey players," said Colarossi. "This is a pivotal year for us. As a group, we're either going to buy-in to a system and execute, and not just be a tempo team, have some puck possession play, etc."

Three years into the brand new women's hockey program at Laurentian, Colarossi knows that annual recruiting will become increasingly critical now that the initial core have settled in.

"When I go into a rink, people are starting to recognize the "V", and I don't need to tell them that Laurentian is only three hours up the highway," said Colarossi. "There is an education that's been done, and it's something that we've been working very hard on."

The Voyageurs open regular season play on October 3rd in North Bay, facing the Nipissing Lakers.

"They are our biggest rival, for sure," said Staats. "They've been in the league for the same amount of time as we have, so it's easier to compare ourselves to them, in a way."

The Laurentian ladies will play host to the Concordia Stingers for a two-game pre-season set on the weekend of September 19th and 20th, with both games slated for the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.