Philadelphia, Pa – The Drexel University Roller Hockey Club is pleased to announce Tryouts for the 2012-2013 Season.  This year, the club will be fielding three teams.  One playing nationally in the NCRHA, a two playing locally in the PCRHL.  Players of all skill levels are encouraged to attend.

All players who intend on playing during the 2012-2013 season, you MUST attend tryouts.  Where: Northeast Racquet Club, 9379 Wallingford Rd. Philadelphia, Pa. 19115

When: September 29th, 2012 10am-1pm

Cost: $30 per person (includes DURHC t-shirt)

Registration for this event will begin at 9:00am and we will hit the floor promptly at 10am.  We will be carpooling to the rink from Drexel Pizza at 8:30am.  Please call or text 717-343-8841 with questions about tryouts.

Philadelphia, Pa – The Drexel University Roller Hockey Club is proud to announce our coaches for the upcoming season.

2011-2012 was a season of turmoil for the ECRHA squad, featuring a slew of new players, coaching changes, and overall disappointment.  The DURHC is proud to announce Justin Tashker as the Head Coach of Drexel’s ECRHA Team.    Justin graduated from Drexel in 2009 after playing 4 years in the ECRHA.  He was an assistant for longtime bench boss, Bill Sherwood, during Drexel’s run to the Regional Semi-Finals in 2011.  Justin currently plays for the Delco Demons of the AIHL.  Coach Tashker looks to bring a winning attitude back to the ECRHA team.

The PCRHL squad is looking forward to another successful season in 2012-2013.  This year, they will have to do it without another DURHC lifer, Chris Ness.  Coach Ness will be taking a leave from the club to further his professional career.  In the meantime, assistant coach, Scott Oskin will be taking over the reigns as Head Coach for both PCRHL Teams.   Coach Oskin graduated from Drexel in 2007 and played in both the ECRHA and PCRHL.  He has been an Assistant to Coach Ness for the past 4 years.   Scott received the Most Improved Player Award in 2004.

Stayed tuned as Coach Tashker and Coach Oskin, along with the rest of the club, prepare for the 2012-2013 Season.

Tryouts will be formally announced shortly.

Come one, come all, to the Drexel University Roller Hockey Club’s first Annual (hopefully) Alumni Game Event.

This years event will put the ECRHA Alumni vs the 2011-2012 edition of the ECRHA team.  As well as a game for purely alumni to test their skills against other alumni.

Food and Beverage will be provided and the cost for the event in only $20.   

Games will be at noon and 1pm respectively, but everyone is encouraged to stay for the duration!  Registration begins at 11am.

The event is taking place at the Northeast Raquet Club and Fitness Center.                                                                                                                                              9379 Krewstown Rd, Philadelphia · (215) 671-9969

Hope to see you there!

Drexel’s Tier 1 team, led by Corey Demarco and Steve Utain, has made it to the PCRHL Finals against St. Joes University. If you can make it out to this Best of 3 series, please do so!

Check out the series schedule!
Game 1: Drexel @ St. Joes – 3:00pm
Game 2: St. Joes @ Drexel – 5:00pm
Game 3: Drexel @ St. Joes (if neccessary) – 7:00pm

All games will be played Sunday, May 6th @ Marple Sports Arena.

Tier II.

Down 3-1 to Villanova, Tier II entered a power play, coming off their only time-out with under one minute remaining in the second period. They were able to capitalize just before intermission to cut the lead down to one. From there it was all Drexel as the bench found new legs and went on to a 5-4 come from behind win. With this victory, Tier II ended pool play 1-1 in their pool that included top-ranked Neumann. From here, Drexel was preparing for business as usual, thinking the next round would replicate the regular season standings with Drexel landing the 6th seed. However, next week’s optimism was short lived as Drexel Tier II learned they were eliminated from the playoffs via a tie break with UPENN who managed an upset win over Kutztown. With this news, Tier II found themselves in the off-season looking forward to next season.

Tier I.

Following a Week 1 win to under matched UPENN, Tier I found themselves on the losing end of a 6-4 score to Villanova. A score that was a lot closer than those in attendance would have guessed based on the observed game play. Drexel looked tentative to make contact, and was continually a step slower, losing the battle for the majority of loose pucks. To add insult to injury, Drexel also suffered unforced turnovers in their defensive zone which gave Villanova ample opportunities to score. In week 3, with Coach Scott Oskin behind the bench, Tier I entered a double header schedule against West Chester and St. Joe’s, respectively. One hour before suffering a 9-0 drubbing at the hands of still dominate St. Joe’s, Drexel was able to lock themselves into a next round match up against last week’s spoiler Villanova with an 8-4 win over West Chester. Anticipating St. Joe’s advancement to the next round, if Drexel wants one more shot at attempting to chop down the giant, they better be prepared to sacrifice more blood and sweat than previously required in getting to this point. If not, they will find themselves exiting the playoffs on the losing end of a match up they were talented enough to win.

- Coach Ness

Months removed from a questionable OT playoff eliminating loss influenced by controversial officiating to eventual PCRHL champs St. Joes, Tier I returned seven players to continue unfinished business along with talented but unpolished freshmen and rookie net minder James Halko.
Tier I’s season started on a sour note, going 1-4 into the Winter break, with their only win coming against second ranked T2 Widener. To add insult to injury the fourth loss just before break came at the hands of St. Joes, 10-2. Tier I entered the break scoring 14 goals while allowing 33. Lack of talent was not the issue. Tier I lacked discipline in the system and lacked the desire to finish a game going bad in order to improve for the greater good.

Fresh off of winter break, Tier I came out with a renewed dedication and sense of optimism, picking up necessary wins against Tier II teams, building up confidence in the system and trust in each other. Through the second half, Tier I was may times tried and many times tested, and many times did bend, but did not break. Goalie James Halko also appeared to find his stride in mid-February, eliminating soft goals that previously hindered T1 and came up with prime time saves to keep T1 in or ahead. Tier I finished the second half 6-1-1, scoring 49 while allowing 39, with an OT loss to contending West Chester and an OT shootout win to under-tiered T2 Neumann who would have had a valid argument in trying to claim the #2 seat in Tier I had they stepped up to the challenge.

Still all was not perfect for Drexel, their one regulation loss in the second half once again coming at the hands of St. Joes, 10-2, once again at the conclusion, this time of the second half of the regular season. If it wasn’t clear before, St Joe’s officially put everyone on notice, despite Drexel’s second half success, they are still the elite team in the PCRHL by a long run.

Entering the playoffs, unbalanced competition, and a late season team dropping out of the league, led to Commissioner Brian Smith to construct a road to the championship format inspired by a Sudoku puzzle. The official playoff structure can be found at PCRHL.org. Tier one breezed through an expected win over UPENN, 7-1 all while playing slighty undisciplined and sloppy. Play that will certainly hurt them going forward. Drexel now looks forward to a match up against Villanova with full focus on finishing what they started last year, all the time knowing it is not a task to take lightly of which they were reminded of in the season finale.

- Coach Chris Ness

Tier II Drexel is a slightly different story, being Drexel’s third team, everybody knows hockey talent is at times lacking, despite this, what only those close to the team know is that Tier II’s heart, desire, and dedication repeatedly goes unmatched by all Drexel teams. Tier II finished the season in the middle of the pack, 5-7-1, staying close in most games and picking up wins spaced evenly throughout the season in a fairly balanced T2 division despite Neumann’s dominance and the cross Tiered schedule in 2011-2012. What separates T1 from T2 is often size, speed, and bench depth, still when the league is balanced it leads to technically correct, exciting hockey for any individual to be personally proud of and it is truly a pleasure to push and develop these players. Drexel funding issues which lead to the cancelation of second half practices mostly effected the development of T2 players who come to practice every week with a desire to improve their game. Players that wanted to improve their fundamentals were not given the opportunity to do so.

Tier II opened their playoffs against Neumann. A team who destroys Drexel with talent. Still despite the obvious, T2 did not back down to the challenge. Overmatched between the pipes, T2 suffered a 7-0 loss. Still T2 brought their desire and dedication to match Neumann, bringing the fury to the final buzzer scrapping, hitting, matching the trash talking, and standing up for each other along the way . Despite this loss, under the Sudoku playoff schedule, T2 still has a chance to advance with a win over T2 Villanova on April 15th. Certainly no small task as Nova finished one point below T2 in the regular season. In order to prevail, T2 must be as pumped for this match up as they were for Neumann.

- Coach Chris Ness

The Drexel Dragons came into the 2011-2012 ECRHA regular season hoping for big things with a line-up consisting of 9 new players, 5 of which were freshman.   Coach Kyle Defelice was in his first season of coaching after leading the Dragons within a win of the National Championship Tournament the past season.  Expectations were high after a solid showing at the Pre-season tournament.

The first event of the season at Marple Sports Arena, Drexel came away with a tough 7-5 loss against Queens College, followed by a disappointing 9-2 blowout against Binghamton, only to be shocked 4-2 by a hard-working Cornell team.

Frustration mounted as the team moved onto Feasterville, posting another tough 4-2 defeat at the hands of Boston University.  In the next game, it seemed as though the Dragons had turned a corner, by routing a solid Albany team 7-1.  However, they came out flat against U-Mass Amherst in an 8am Sunday morning game, being routed themselves 10-2.

After finding out the Coach Defelice needed to step down due to work-related issues, Drexel traveled to Harrisburg, Pa, facing off against top-ranked Slippery Rock and Pittsburgh.  The ride was not kind to the Dragons as they lost 9-0 and 11-2 respectively.  The Harrisburg tournament also marked the return of Brian Smith to the Drexel bench.  Smith’s Dragons began to turn it around on Sunday, beating Shippensburg 5-3 in a game where the score did not show the domination Drexel displayed.  In the afternoon, they matched up against rival, Delaware in a closely contested game.  Drexel led by 3 going into the 3rd period, but lost their composure and ended up with a  5-5 tie.

The second half of the season marked a tough and packed schedule for the Dragons.  All-star weekend in Feasterville had Drexel playing some of their best hockey of the season.  An 11-0 win over Millersville started it off, which led to a 4-4 tie with Vermont.  Late that evening, Drexel hosted Northeastern in a rematch of last year’s ECRHA quarterfinals.  Northeastern squeaked by a last minute goal in the rematch to beat the Dragons 2-1.   Drexel lost another tough game to Scranton the next day by the same score.

The final tournament of the season saw Drexel skate into Sewell, NJ playing for pride as their playoff hopes had been eliminated.  Drexel lost another 8am game, 9-1, to a fast and physical Queens College team.  After getting the forfeit win against Cornell, Drexel played Binghamton to a 4-1 loss.  The last game of the season came against Delaware, a team that they have tied since Delaware moved up to Division II in 2010.  The Dragons came out early and went up 3-1.  Delaware evened the score at 3-3 halfway through the game, until Jim “Day Day” Litchkowski slipped in a 5-hole goal in the breakaway to give Drexel the 4-3 lead.  They wouldn’t look back, as John Kundrat added the insurance marker in the 3rd period giving Drexel it’s first ECRHA win over the University of Delaware.

The 2011-2012 ECRHA Season was a dissapointing one of the Dragons, but they showed a solid imrpovement in the second half, despite playing with so many Freshman and Sophomores.  The young players need to step up next year with some big performances, hopefully leading Drexel back to the ECRHA Regional Championships and onto the 2013 NCRHA National Championships.

The Dragons hit the floor this weekend at Marple Sports Arena in  Broomall, Pa  for its first ECRHA Regular Season Action.  After going 0-1-1 in pre-season, the Dragon seek  improvement, and what a better way to start the weekend than with a 10am re-match against Queens, the team that beat them in the pre-season.  They follow up that contest with a 7pm match against reigning DII regionals champion, Binghamton at 7pm.  The weekend wraps up Saturday at 1pm as Drexel faces off against Cornell.

Not long after the ECRHA event is over, the PCRHL season begins  at Marple.  Drexel will square off against neighboring Penn in both games; at 7pm, Drexel’s Tier I team takes on Penn 1.  At 8pm, Drexel’s Tier II team takes on Penn 2.

Marple Sports Arena is located at 611 Park Way, Broomall, Pa.

Stay tuned for recaps of all Dragons games this weekend Tier 2 through ECRHA.

The season is officially underway with ECRHA games Saturday at 11:00am and 6:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm!

Coach Defelice will be leading a talented but unfinalized Division II Dragons roster into this weekend vs. Queens, UMass-Amherst, and Cornell. With  Queens and Umass-Amherst (both Division III teams) playing their first DII games and a brand new Drexel roster, this weekend will surely be a big event for DU roller hockey.  Good Luck to those making the trip to Feasterville!!!