The men's hockey team went back to school early but not in Hanover. Crossing the Atlantic, the Big Green spent 11 days in Italy and Switzerland, battling professional teams on the ice and taking in cultural sights in a quadrennial training trip.
Coming well ahead of the start of the regular season, which kicks off with a road matchup against Princeton University in the Liberty Invitational on Oct. 25, the trip provided valuable game play opportunities.
"When you think about it, we only play 30 regular season games," captain Tyler Sikura '15 said. "We played three over there, which is 10 percent. I think we're really going to benefit from those games at the start of the season."
The Big Green shared plane and bus rides, seeing some of the world's great cultural sights and learning more about each other.
"I thought I was close with guys on the team, but after our time in Italy, I'm 100 percent closer," assistant captain Eric Robinson '14 said. "It was one of the best bonding experiences I've had with any group of guys, and that's really important when you're going through adversity [during the season]."
After a brief stop in Lake Como, Italy, the Big Green kicked off its on-ice training on the second full day of the trip, heading to Langenthal, Switzerland to match up against SC Langenthal.
With the game coming so quickly on the heels of international travel, the Big Green knew it would have to adjust quickly to jet lag and take a positive attitude into the games.
"Everyone just took the attitude of we're lucky to come over," he said. "It definitely was a factor but nothing that we can blame performance on."
Playing for the first time on European ice, the Big Green suffered a disappointing 5-0 loss while adjusting to a different style of play.
"European style hockey is a lot more finesse they would like to say more skilled and North American hockey is known for more grinding, more physical play," Robinson said. "So it was a bit of a change going from playing teams in the ECAC that will try to rough you up and beat you that way to teams that will try to pass through you."
While of course more accustomed as a team to the North American style, the team enjoyed the larger rinks.
"Maybe a defenseman would say something different about it, but offensively it's liberating with the amount of room you have and the amount of time you have to look for players," Robinson said.
The Big Green remained in Switzerland for its second contest of the training trip, falling 6-3 to HC Thurgau on Aug. 31. Despite coming out on the wrong side of the score line, the Big Green began to click offensively. Sikura netted two goals to keep the game close and Nick Bligh '16 chipping in with the third.
"We really weren't happy with the way we lost the second game," Sikura said. "It was in our grasp and we just kind of fell apart for four or five minutes."
Bouncing back with the help of a change of scenery, the Big Green managed to notch a win in the final contest of the trip, picking up a 4-1 victory over Ritten Sport Renon in Italy. Brad Schierhorn '16 and Charlie Mosey '15 both found the net twice to help power the Big Green to victory.
"Given that it was probably only the sixth or seventh time we've skated together as a team, it's hard to make any assumptions about any of the games," Robinson said. "But it's always good to get a bounce-back win. "
As they traveled from game to game, the Big Green had numerous opportunities to come closer as a team off the ice, welcoming the incoming freshmen while taking in the sights of Europe.
Off the ice, the Big Green spent time in the Swiss and Italian countryside, touring the Vatican and taking in the history of Rome with guides.
Back in the United States, the Big Green next takes the ice on Oct. 18 in an exhibition match against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, a final tune-up before the season starts at the Liberty Invitational. As the game approaches, Robinson said the team will reflect on shared training experience.
"When coach [Bob] Gaudet talks to us for our first team meeting, I think he's going to remind us that the point of the trip was to come together as a team," Robinson said.
Last season, the Big Green failed to deliver on a hot start, falling to Union College in the ECAC quarterfinals. With the help of the training trip, they hope to turn that final result around.
"We set aside our goals last spring," Robinson said. "We have a lot of goals and checkpoints. It's a long list, but it obviously ends off with a national championship."
