The Cabrini College roller hockey team anticipates having one of their best seasons this year and would love for Cabrini fans to be there to support them. The roller hockey team is a club sport with 11 members that was started on campus seven years ago. The team usually has the most fans at their games, but this year, the numbers have been dwindling.
The team currently has three wins and four losses. Their next game is Dec. 4 at 5 p.m. against Drexel at the Marple Sports Arena in Broomall, Pa. The team is coming off a vicious double header against Philadelphia University and Neumann College, played on Nov. 13. The team lost to Neumann, but Mike Stevens, a senior sports fitness management major and the president of the club, said that it was, “one of the most amazing games this season,” and went into overtime with the final score of 7-6.
The team is sponsored through the intramural program at Cabrini with the help of Orlin Jespersen, the director of intramurals and recreation. Their coach, Nick Voight, volunteers to coach the team for free. The team practices at a rink in Deptford, N.J. that is owned by team member Mike Egan.
Egan, a senior business administration major and captain of the team, feels that “the underclassmen have stepped up in the early part of the season and it’s helping the team become stronger each game.” He runs the practices with the coach and, according to Stevens, is a strong leader for the team. Egan likes the enthusiasm that the fans bring to each game and really appreciates all the support they get. “In the past years we’ve been known to have loud and crazy fans, and we wouldn’t mind that to continue,” Egan said.
The roller hockey team is part of the Philadelphia Collegiate Roller Hockey League and also plays against teams from schools such as St. Joe’s, University of Pennsylvania and Lehigh. Last year, the team made it to the first round of the play-offs where they faced Drexel University but lost. This year, however, when they faced Drexel again, Cabrini was victorious with a 7-1 win.
Josh Foley, a junior finance major, is a forward and assistant captain for the roller hockey team. Stevens describes Foley as a “good talent.” Foley currently leads the teams in goals scored with 10 goals this season. He hopes the team can go into the winter break with a win and “give 110 percent to get into the playoffs this year,” Stevens said.
Stephen Hughes, a junior special education major and vice president of the club, is the goalie for the team. “Our team has the most talent out of any team in the league. We have a lot of skilled players and I know that we will do really well this year,” Hughes said.
Roller hockey is played on a surface known as a sport court. Each game is three 15-minute periods with a running clock. There are no off-sides and the players rotate every few minutes. The league is a non-check league, but they are a physical team and have a strong presence in the league because of that. They are the most penalized team in the league, but Stevens doesn’t necessarily think that is bad. “Teams look out for us” because the team is not afraid to get physical, Stevens said. The guys can get pretty beat up and Stevens has even had his tooth knocked out.
The other members of the team are freshman Steve Mannino, a defenseman; junior Brian Prospero, a forward; junior Bob Quinn, a defenseman; sophomore Joe Zullo, a forward; junior Paul Loolio, a defenseman; graduate student Mike Casey, a forward and defenseman and junior Clayton Cottman, a forward.
Stevens feels that the team has a “tremendous amount of talent,” and “we have the potential to be a championship team.” For now, they are going to take it game by game and they realize that they have to get there first, before they can go further. If there are enough interested students, Stevens will organize a fan bus to transport people to the games. For more information, contact Stevens at mrs723@cabrini.edu.
