By: Leighton Geraghty
After a heartbreaking end to the 25-26 season losing to Anna Maria College in the AAU finals, the Bishop’s Men’s Hockey team is back at it. With a feeling of unfinished business, the team took the ice in early September for their main camp. Nine Seniors graduated from last year’s team, allowing for multiple new faces to get a chance at joining the squad. Three intense days filled with skating, competition and sweat finalized this year’s team. The boys shifted their sights to the regular season, welcoming in the new players and getting straight to work.
With less than a month of preparation, the Bishops Men’s Club Hockey team hosted the Concordia Stingers on Oct. 4. The annual white- out game in the Jane and Eric Molson Arena saw over 300 people in the crowd. Family, friends and fellow Bishop’s students all came together to support the team. From the opening puck drop, the game was controlled by BU, getting pucks in deep, laying the body and testing the opposing goalie early. BU struck first, scoring at the 11:33 mark in the first period. Frederic Grenon, the team’s captain, jumped on a loose puck off of a faceoff in the offensive zone and beat the opposing goalie five-hole.
The crowd roared with joy as the team jumped into the glass celebrating in front of them. Momentum carried for the team as barely two minutes later rookie defenseman Anthony Ménard sprung Senior forward and assistant captain Cody Morton on a breakaway.
Morton did what he does best and beat the goalie up high in a highlight-reel goal. What was even more electric was his celebration, yet again, in front of the home crowd. In the dying minutes of the first period, Concordia got on the board, narrowing the lead, making it a 2-1 game.
The second period was all BU, scoring two in the period and jumping to a 4-1 lead. The game started to become chippy as the referees tried to regain control of the game; most of the third period was commanded by special teams. Bishop’s did a great job at killing off the early penalties in the period, but Concordia got the better of them later in the period. The Stingers scored two late in the third on the power play to bring the game within one. Concordia brought a final push at the end of the game but were unsuccessful in tying it up as BU rookie and star netminder Benjamin Polhill recorded his first win for the team. In what was bound to be a heavy-duty matchup, Bishop’s came out on top 4-3. A historic moment for the Club Hockey team as they defeated an RSEQ opponent for the first time in the modern-day era. Captain Fred Grenon expressed, “It’s huge for us; obviously, we are super excited about that win. It’s a great step towards the direction we want to take the program. We want to keep building on this win, and we’re looking forward to competing again in the RSEQ.”
A couple of weeks later, Bishop’s headed down Highway Ten to face off against RMC. Coming off of reading week, the boys had a slow start, still managing to go into the locker room up 1-0 after the first period. A fiery speech from Head Coach Jordan Chabot brought some life to the bench as BU commanded the second period, scoring four and bringing their lead to 5-0. Midway through the third period, Matthew O’Grady set up Anderson Hapke, who potted the 6th goal of the game. Final score: 6-0 BU. The team has started the season off perfectly for yet another year. They now shift their focus to their next couple of games in preparation for a difficult month of November, playing almost every weekend. You can come and support the team on Nov. 14 as they are back on home ice against the Concordia Stingers.
