Megan PellegrinoThey have yet to lose a game in regulation, currently lead the league in goals, feature the league-leading goal scorer and they are not men’s or women’s lacrosse.
Currently, the most successful team at Cabrini plays on skates and prior to their last game two weeks ago, did it without the luxury of matching jerseys.
The men’s roller hockey club, boasting a record of 5-0-1, has silently put together the best season of their young history.
In just their fourth year as a team, the Cavaliers appear to be playoff-bound.
“We have a team that plays well together and we are building chemistry pretty quickly,” president and captain of the club Mike Macdonald said modestly.
“We lost a few guys that cost us some bad penalties a lot of the time and were left with guys that just want to play hard, which helps too.”
The fifth win of the season came on Sunday, Nov. 23, against Rowan University.
After a slow first period, Cabrini tore the game open, scoring eight goals in the remaining two periods.
The final score was 11-3. Junior finance major Mike Holland led the way in scoring.
The alternate captain leads not only the team, but also the entire league in goals, 14, and points, with 31, yet he was very quick to accredit other teammates for his success.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had this much depth in our history,” Holland said. “We have great players on both sides of the puck. Brian Bell can bury the puck on offense, Mike MacDonald is a leader on defense and Bill Battista is always prepared to drop the gloves. The list goes on, but we really don’t have any weaknesses on this team.”
“This is the best that I have seen them play,” Traci Beltz, friend of several team members, said. “I think it has something to do with the fact that they all have matching uniforms now.”
The game against Rowan University was also the first that the team sported matching jerseys with the Cabrini Cavalier logo.
MacDonald and Holland collaborated on the design for the jerseys.
“Since my freshman year, no one sat down and took the time to put in the order and collect the money from everyone, so we all just wore similar blue jerseys,” MacDonald said. “The upper-classmen had matching jerseys and we just wore whatever blue we had laying around.”
The team’s only loss came in extra time to Penn State- Brandywine.
Holland reluctantly admitted that luck was not on their side in the high scoring 9-8 loss.
“I thought we played our best game of the season, though we came out on the losing end,” Holland said. “I hit the post with 30 seconds left, and they scored a fluke goal earlier in the game, but sometimes that’s the breaks of the game. The puck doesn’t always go your way but we just move on and play harder next game.”
Despite the high-powered offense the team possesses, just two Cabrini College hoodies could be spotted on the nearly empty bleachers at their game last Sunday, juniors Traci Beltz and Lizzie Williams.
“We have been friends with Pat Trencansky, Mike Holland and Mike MacDonald since freshmen year,” Beltz, exercise science major, said. “We have been going whenever we were free to watch them play since then.”
The attendance problem could be because the Philadelphia Collegiate Roller Hockey League games are all held at the Marple Sports Arena in Broomall, Pa.
“I wish they played closer to Cabrini,” Beltz said. “I really think they should publicize their games more. The baseball team is always inviting people on Facebook and inviting people to come out. I think they would get more people out by asking friends to ask friends and carpool together.”
Holland, however, sees it a bit differently.
“Honestly, it’s not that far,” Holland said. “It’s only an exit south on I-476. “We are actually the closest school in the league to the rink, which is great.”
“We had a few people that steadily came to a lot of the games but no big crowds, which we would like to change,” MacDonald said.
The Cavs have 10 remaining regular season games. They will resume action on Dec. 7 versus Drexel University No. 2 at Marple at 4 p.m.
Upon asked about what is expected for the rest of the season, Holland smiled and said simply, “We think we’re the team to beat in this league, no question.”
For more statistics, schedules and other information about the the club team and the league, log onto pcrhl.org.
