No rest for Badgers
Less than two weeks after the end of their season, the Brock Badgers women’s hockey team are already back at it preparing for next year.
The Badgers were eliminated in the Ontario University Athletics quarter-finals by the Ryerson Rams Feb. 22 and this week reconvened to get prepared for the 2020/21 season.
“Really, depending on the season, you take 10-14 days off, rest and recover and go do some things other than hockey,” coach Margot Page said. “We don’t necessarily start on the ice, we start with meetings and training and go heavily into our post-season training developing the volume and getting ready.
“It’s not like we start up again in August or September. We get them a good base. If you want to be a high-end elite athlete, it’s a 12-month thing.”
The Badgers have also already done the bulk of their recruiting for next year after losing five key players — Jensen Murphy, Julia Pattella, Annie Berg, Hunter Accursi and Amanda Ieradi — to graduation.
“We had 28 on our roster and four goalies so we didn’t have to add too much,” Page said.
The Badgers did add a pair of new netminders, two forwards and a defenceman.
Brock finished the regular season with a 14-10 record and qualified as the No. 4 seed before being eliminated.
“We’re really pleased. Even after we were put out in our series, as a staff — I’m sure the players might have felt differently — we were really happy with the way things went,” Page said. “Big picture, we’re really happy with the season. Anytime in this league you can make the playoffs you have to be satisfied because then anything can happen.”
Page enjoyed watching the team grow together.
“The way we started (3-6) was the way we expected,” she said. “We had a real slow start but that was expected as we figured out lines and everything. Once it got rolling, we did amazing. We were one of the best teams in the league so really happy with that.
“We still have a ways to go. We need some more experience and we still have to keep building on our culture of excellence.”
Page feels the Badgers will benefit from the playoff experience.
“We have a really young crew, mostly first and second years. The games were really close in the playoffs. They could have gone either way. It comes down to the experience and how healthy you are at that time in the playoffs.
“It’s a good little taste for our players for next year not to be satisfied.”
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