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Team looks forward to 2010-11 Season

With big changes going on in the BRHC, VMI Hockey looks forward to its forthcoming season. After finishing with a bang in the 2009-10 season, the Keydets are looking to improve and become a dominating force in the Atlantic Division. With six rising seniors, the team will be older and more experienced than past years. The team will also be welcoming a new Assistant Coach for the upcoming season. All things look positive for the future…

VMI Hockey finishes with a big win

On February 19^th, the VMI Hockey Team finished its season by routing Radford at home with a dominating 9-0 victory. This was the final appearance in the BRHC for seniors Chris Mendillo, and Drew Horgan. It was also the final game for Assistant Coach Shawn M. Rost who played a pivotal role on and off the ice as a mentor for all the players. All three of these individuals had a large impact on the program and will leave a lasting legacy for years to come.

VMI Takes Pair From Citadel

VMI defeated the Citadel twice this past weekend with scores of 4-3 and 5-4 (SO). Senior Chris Mendillo scored the deciding goal with 3:21 left in the game to claim Game 1 of the Military Cup. Goal scorers in the game were Freshman Alex Erber, Senior Drew Horgan, Senior Andy Adldoost, and Chris Mendillo.

Game 2 was played Dec. 5 at Wake Forest, and proved to be more intense. This marked the second annual Military Classic of the South.

With time winding down in the third period, Junior Drew Luxhoj scored the game-tying goal and sent the game into overtime. During the first overtime, VMI took a penalty and skated shorthanded for two out of the 5 minutes in overtime. Both goaltenders held their ground, and the game came down to the second shoot-out with the Citadel in two years. Senior Chris Mendillo and Freshman Hunter Wood both scored during the shootout, while Junior Eric Wittig denied the Citadel any goals, giving VMI a 5-4 victory to win the Military Classic of the South for the second straight year. This year the Military Classic raised over $3000 for the American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund.

Keydets Defeat NOVA In Season Opener

The VMI Keydets defeated Northern Virginia Community College on Friday night by a score of 6-4. With a short bench, VMI was able to out shoot NOVA 49-38. A spectacular performance by goaltender Eric Wittig and a high powered offense helped the Keydets to secure their first win of the new season. VMI came out strong, with freshman Hunter Wood netting his first goal of his VMI career, but NOVA answered with 1:09 left in the first period to tie the game. Scoring went back and forth all game until the Keydets got an insurance goal from senior Chris Mendillo, giving the them a 2 goal cushion with 1:08 left in the game. VMI will play Liberty University D3 on Friday, 2 October at 4:00pm at LaHaye Ice center in Lynchburg.

Keydets win first playoff game ever; lose heartbreaker to VCU

Greenville, NC - The ice hockey team wrapped up their highly successful season this past weekend when they were eliminated from the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference post-season tournament.

On Friday afternoon, the team arrived in Greenville to take on the Highlanders from Radford. The Keydets had split the regular season series 1-1 with their opponents and were taking the game very seriously, which paid off.

The game started pretty even with the score tied 1-1 after one period of play. The second period came and the Keydets quickly took the game into their hands expanding their lead and never looking back. Leading scorer Drew Horgan elaborated saying, "the team played really well against Radford. We kept one of the league's better players off the score sheet. Our defense played well, and that's the key to winning."

Scoring was dominated by the seniors, with Mark Gliebe, Andy Adldoost, Drew Miraldi and Barrett Luxhoj all lighting the lamp. Freshman Zach Spain added a final talley for the cherry on top to make the final score 6-1 and help the Keydets through to the next round.

That was VMI's first playoff victory ever. VMI lost to ODU in 2005, ECU in 2006, did not make the playoffs in 2007, and a heartbreaker against nationally ranked ODU 4-3 in 2008.

The win against Radford meant that the Keydets were into the semi-finals against an all too familiar rival, the VCU Rams. The Rams had beaten VMI in both regular season contests (6-4, 4-3), but were both tight battles and the Keydets believed they had a chance to win.

Unfortunately, the officials chose to send starting goaltender Tommy Fields to the locker room for a chin strap right before the puck dropped. This forced backup goaltender, Eric Wittig, between the pipes. Wittig gave up a soft goal when he tried to play the puck instead of covering it up and VCU took advantage picking up the rebound and taking the early lead 45 seconds into the game.

VMI got into some penalty trouble with Adldoost and Miraldi in the box. This put VCU on 5-3 powerplay and they took adavantage of it. Scoring two goals on the power play, put VCU up 3-0 at the end of the first period. Not down, VMI slowly regained the some pressure and put a goal in on a nice 2 on 1 with a pass from Drew Horgan to Andy Adldoost who roofed it over the Rams goaltender's glove.

The Keydets were down 3-1 going into the 3rd period. Not once were they discouraged. Outshooting the Rams in the 2nd and 3rd periods, the puck just was not bouncing their way. Two cross bars by Mark Gliebe and Chris Mendillo, a post by Pete Saragnese, two missed breakaway chances for Alex Cowdry and a questionable offsides call that was a 2 on 1.

VCU was able to score again on the powerplay pushing the lead back up to 3, but VMI answered right back with a goal from Mark Gliebe on the point. Time was not on the Keydets side as it reached inside the 7:00 minute mark. The Rams prevailed once again winning 4-2. VCU went on to the final to beat the Citadel 2-1 to claim the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference Championship.

The disappointing loss marked the end of a long, but successful season. It was bittersweet, because although VMI won its first post-season game, the team felt they could have done better.

As Drew Horgan points out, next season is promising, "The team loses 5 seniors, but is returning a strong squad and 4 of the top 5 leader point scorers. The upcoming juniors will be important, because there are only three seniors. Our defense is going to have some new faces, but the offense is coming back strong and both goalies returning."